tell it because I know it will not make your life more happy, or your
punishment easier to bear!"

He did not shriek--he did not faint--he did not move--but from between
his teeth two words came like a burning hiss, "Curse her!" Then,
seizing his pen, he dashed off a few lines, bidding Rosamond "not to
delay a single moment, but to come home at once."

"She knows it all," he said, "and now, if _she_ comes here, it will
not be much worse. I can but die, let what will happen."

This letter took Rosamond and the Lawries by surprise, but not so Miss
Porter. She expected it, and when she saw how eager Rosamond was to
go, she smiled a hard, bitter smile, and said, "I've half a mind to go
with you."

"_What! where?_ To _Riverside?_" asked Rosamond, suspending her
preparations for a moment, and hardly knowing whether she were pleased
or not.

"Yes, to Riverside," returned Miss Porter, "though on the whole, I
think I'd better not. Mr. Browning may not care to see me. If he does,
you can write and let me know. Give him my love, and say that if you
had not described him as so incorrigible an old bach, I might be
coming there to try my powers upon him. I am _irresistible in my
diamonds_. Be sure and tell him that; and stay, Rosamond, I must give
you some little token of my affection. What shall it be?" and she
feigned to be thinking.

Most cruel must her thoughts have been, and even she hesitated a