er there is any
chance for me--whether you can honor me with your love--whether you will
one day consent to be my wife."

His voice sank to a pleading tone, and his face was very pale. But he
felt that a great display of emotion would frighten and repel the girl,
and he therefore sedulously avoided, as far as possible, any appearance
of agitation. He could not, however, entirely achieve the calmness which
he desired, and the very suppression of his agitation, which, in spite
of himself, made his voice shake, and brought fire to his eyes, had an
unwontedly unnerving effect upon Lesley.

"Oh, I don't know," she said hurriedly. "I can't tell--I never
thought----"

"Think now," he said persuasively. "Am I disagreeable to you?"

"No,"--very softly.

"Have you forgiven me for my bad behavior in the past?"

"You never did behave badly."

"But you have forgiven me?"

"Oh, yes."

This was illogical, as she had previously intimated that there was
nothing to forgive; but, under such circumstances, Lesley may be
excused.

"And--surely, then--you like me a little!"

"A little," Lesley breathed, rather than spoke, with an unconscious
smile of happiness.

"Can you not call it 'loving?'" asked Maurice, daring for the first time
to take her soft little hand in his.

But the question, the look, the touch, suddenly terrified Lesley, and
brought back to her mind a long-forgotten promise. What was it her mother
had required of her before she left Paris for her father's house? Was it
not a pledge that she should not bind herself to marry any man?--that
she should not engage herself to be married? Lesley had an instinctive
knowledge of the fact that to proclaim her promise would be to cast
discredit on Lady Alice; and so, while trying to keep her word, she
sought for means to avoid telling the whole truth.

"No, oh no," she said, withdrawing her hand at once and turning away.
"Indeed, I could not. Please do not ask me anymore."

The shock was very great to Maurice. He stood perfectly silent for a
moment. He had thought that he was making such good progress--and,
behold! the wind had suddenly changed; the face of the heavens was
overcast. He tried to think that he had been mistaken, and made another
attempt to win a favorable hearing.

"Miss Brooke--Lesley--you say you like me a little. Do you not think
that your liking for me might grow? When you know that I love you so
tenderly, that I would lay down my very life for yo