long ago promised her hand to the son of a wealthy cousin somewhere
in that country--Baron von something--I can't remember hard names.'

"At length Mark looked up again and said:

"'Mrs. Mordecai, do not distress me farther. How can I credit your
story? How can I believe that Miss Leah is aught but what she
seems--the embodiment of health and beauty? Alas! for my broken,
vanished hopes! Alas! for my golden dreams of the future!'

"'Oh! don't take things too much to heart, my boy. Leah does not
care for you very much anyway. It will be but a small disappointment
to her, if indeed she ever thought seriously of marrying you; and I
remember to have heard her say that she never intended to marry--
conscious of her affliction, I suppose.'

"Mark winced under these words, and replied, 'She need not have
deceived me.'

"'Oh! girls will be girls, you know; and after you get over this
trouble, if you still like the name, remember, here is Leah's sister
Sarah, as fine a girl as you'll find anywhere, if she is my
daughter.'

"'I could love her for her sister's sake, if nothing more,' said
Mark with feeling; and then he bowed his head upon the marble mantel
and looked steadily into the fire without a word.

"'Then if you desire,' continued my step-mother, with a little
assumed hesitation, 'after reflection, you may speak to her father