that we should be thrown together, let us contribute to each other's
happiness as far as in us lies. I will think of you as a brother, if
you like, and you shall treat me as a sister, until somebody takes me
off your hands. Now, I can't say _I_ shall never marry, for I verily
believe I shall. Meantime, you must think of me just as you would if
you had a wife. Is it a bargain, Mr. Browning?"

She spoke playfully, but he knew she was in earnest, and from his
inmost soul he blessed her for having thus brought the conversation to
a close. He would not tell her why he had said to her what he had--it
was not what he intended to say, and he knew she was in a measure
deceived, but he could not explain to her now; he could not tell her
that he trembled for himself far more than for her, and it was not for
her then to know how much he loved her, nor how that love was wearing
his life away because of its great sin. He was growing old now very
fast. The shadows of years were on his brow, and Rosamond almost
fancied she saw his brown locks turning white. She was a warm-hearted,
impulsive girl, and going toward him, she parted from his forehead the
hair streaked with gray, saying softly to him: "Shall it not be so?
May I be your sister?"

"Yes, Rosamond, yes," was his answer; and then, wishing to bring him
back to the point from which they started, Rosamond said abruptly--
"And what of the Springs? Can I go?"

The descent was a rapid one, but it was what he needed, and lifting up
his head, he replied, just as he had done before, "Do you want to go?"
"Not as much as I did when I thought you were angry, and if you would
rather, I had quite as lief stay with you."