cold toward you, it is because--because--"

Rosamond's eyes were riveted upon his face--darker and darker they
grew, becoming at last almost black in their intensity. She was
beginning to understand him, and coloring crimson, she answered,
bitterly: "I know what you would say, but you need have no fears, for
I never aspired to that honor. Rosamond Leyton has yet to see the man
she could love."

"Rosamond," and Mr. Browning's voice was so low, so mournful in its
tone that it quelled the angry feelings in the young girl's bosom, and
she offered no resistance when he came to her side and took her hand
in his, saying as he did so--"Listen to me. You came here a little
girl, and at first I did not heed you, but you made your presence felt
in various ways, until at last I thought I could not live without you.
You are a young lady now--the world calls you beautiful. To me you are
beautiful. Oh, _so_ beautiful," and he laid one hand upon her shining
hair, softly, tenderly nay, proudly, as if she had been his child. "I
am not old yet, and it would be natural that we should love each
other, but we must not--we cannot."

"And lest I should love you too well, you have tried to make me hate
you," interrupted Rosamond, trying in vain to release herself from his
powerful grasp, and adding, "but you can spare yourself the trouble. I
like you too well to hate you; but as I live, I would not marry you if
I could. I mean what I say!"

He released her hand, and returning to his chair, laid his head upon
the table, while she continued--"I know just about how well you like
me--how necessary I am to your comfort, and since fate has decreed