ng her close to him, and speaking
with sorrowful tenderness, "I am not going to deceive you. It would not be
right for me to do so. But Dr. Waters thinks that he cannot stay with us
much longer. He believes that he will rally for a while, but the state of
his system warns him that it will be but a very little while. And, Virgie,
your father wants us to be married at once. Darling, shall it be as he
wishes?"

But Virgie hardly heard these latter sentences.

She threw herself upon that manly breast in a wild burst of grief.

It was a dreadful blow to be told that the die was cast, that her father's
doom was very near.

In an indefinite way she had been dreading it ever since he himself had
talked so plainly about it to her, but with the buoyancy of youth she had
kept hoping against hope, and refusing to believe the fearful truth.

Sir William held her in her fond embrace, and allowed her to weep until
her tears were spent.

He knew that it was better to let her grief have its way. She would be
calmer and stronger afterward, though every sob and tear was bitter pain
to his loving heart.

She grew more quiet after a time, and at length he felt that he might
again speak of the subject so near his heart.

"Will you be my wife, Virgie? I would not have forced this upon you just
now but for your father's desire, and because Dr. Waters, who must return
to-day to his own duties, can make all necessary arrangements for us upon
his arrival in Virginia City.

"A clergyman must be sent to us, and there are some other matters which I
wish attended to, so we must decide now. Still, my darling, if you shrink
from this step, if the thought of it shocks you, I will not urge it, I
will wait until you are quite ready for it."

"Did papa propose it?" Virgie asked, hiding her flushed face from those
eager, loving eyes looking down upon her.

"Yes. I should not have presumed to suggest anything of the kind at such a
time," returned the young baronet, gravely. "But he thinks that his mind
would be easier if he could see you my wife. He wishes to give you away
irrevocably while he is able. Then, dear, I could be with you all the time
to help you in your care of him, to relieve you of much that would
encroach upon your strength. Tell me freely, Virgie, shall it or shall it
not be?"

"Do you really wish it? or--are you only yielding to his desire?" she
asked, in a low voice.

He gathered her closer to his breast until she could fee