you must know this."

An eager glance for a moment dispelled the melancholy of her face,
and then the old look returned with added force, as she answered:

"Yes, Paul, I believe what you say, and admit that you, of all men,
could be of service; and yet you have no conception of the sacrifice
you would entail upon yourself by the service you would render. Could
I profit myself at the cost of your eternal sorrow? You do not know,
and alas! I cannot explain; but the boon of my liberty would, I fear,
only be purchased at the price of yours. I had not thought I should
be so perplexed!"

He had not found the slightest relief from the embarrassing ignorance
that enshrouded him. The girl's utter lack of coquetry, and her depth
of feeling, made his position even more complex than it might
otherwise have been.

"As you must know, I am talking in the dark," he continued after a
minute, "but this much I will venture to assert, that no act of mine
could be a sacrifice which would put my life in closer touch with
yours; for although it was only yesterday that we met for the first
time, I love you; and I loved you, Dorothy, from the instant I first
caught sight of you at the station. I do not pretend to explain this,
but have felt an overpowering passion from that moment."

"And you will not think me unmaidenly, Paul, if I say the same to
you?"

She made no effort to conceal her feelings, and they sat murmuring