"The night is damp and the air is chill, and these narrow halls are
draughty. Do not stand out here," he said, with eager solicitude; "you
might catch cold."

She laughed a sweet, amused laugh.

"I am used to all kinds of weather, Doctor Gardiner," she said. "I am
always out in it. I make the first track in winter through the deep
snows. I go for the work in the morning, and return with it at night.
You know, when one is poor, one can not be particular about such little
things as the weather; it would never do."

CHAPTER XI.

A SHADOW DARKENS THE PEACEFUL HOME OF THE BASKET-MAKER.

Sweet Bernardine Moore laughed to see the look of amazement upon the
young doctor's face.

He who had been reared in luxury, pampered and indulged--ay, spoiled by
an over-indulgent mother, what had he ever known of the bitter realities
of life, the struggles many have to undergo for their very existence?

He looked at this delicate, graceful girl, and his lips trembled, his
eyes grew moist with tears.

Oh, if he but dared remove her from all this sorrow! The thought of her
toiling and suffering there was more than he could calmly endure.

He turned away quickly. In another moment he would have committed
himself. He had almost forgotten that he was bound to another, and would
have been kneeling at her feet in another minute but for the sound of
her father's voice, which brought him to himself.

"Bernardine!" cried her father, fretfully, "what are you doing out there
so long in the hall? Don't you know that Mr. Wilde is waiting here to
talk with you?"

A pitiful shadow crossed the girl's face. Evidently she knew what the
man had to say to her.

Tears which she could not resist came to her eyes, and her lovely lips
trembled.

Doctor Gardiner could not help but observe this.

"Bernardine," he cried, hoarsely, forgetting himself for the moment, "I
should like to ask something of you. Will you promise to grant my
request?"

"Yes," she murmured, faintly and unhesitatingly.

"Do not trust the man to whom your father is talking."

"There is little need to caution me in regard to him, Doctor Gardiner,"
she murmured. "My own heart has told me that already----"

She stopped short in great embarrassment, and Doctor Gardiner thought it
best not to pursue the subject further, for his own peace of mind as
well as hers.

He turned abruptly away, and was quickly lost to sight in the labyrinth
of stair-ways.

With slow steps B