such
conversation had ever passed. Nevertheless, the pulses of his heart
were stirred.

"Tell me this," said he. "Are you his promised wife?"

"Laws, Mr. Robinson!"

"Answer me honestly, if you can. Is that man to be your husband? If
it be so it will be well for him, and well for you, but, above all,
it will be well for me, that we should part. And if it be so, why
have you come hither to torment me?"

"To torment you, George!"

"Yes; to torment me!" And then he rose suddenly from his feet, and
advanced with rapid step and fierce gesture towards the astonished
girl. "Think you that love such as mine is no torment? Think you that
I have no heart, no feeling; that this passion which tears me in
pieces can exist without throwing a cloud upon my life? With you, as
I know too well, all is calm and tranquil. Your bosom boils with no
ferment. It has never boiled. It will never boil. It can never boil.
It is better for you so. You will marry that man, whose house is
good, and whose furniture has been paid for. From his shop will come
to you your daily meals,--and you will be happy. Man wants but little
here below, nor wants that little long. Adieu."

"Oh, George, are you going so?"

"Yes; I am going. Why should I stay? Did I not with my own hand in
this room renounce you?"

"Yes; you did, George. You did renounce me, and that's what's killing
me. So it is,--killing me." Then she threw herself into a chair and
buried her face in her handkerchief.

"Would that we could all die," he said, "and that everything should
end. But now I go to the printer's. Adieu, Maryanne."

"But we shall see each other occasionally,--as friends?"

"To what purpose? No; certainly not as friends. To me such a trial
would be beyond my strength." And then he seized the copy from the
table, and taking his hat from the peg, he hurried out of the room.

"As William is so stiff about the money, I don't know whether it
wouldn't be best after all," said she, as she took herself back to
her father's apartments.

Mr. Brown, when he met the policeman, found that that excellent
officer was open to reason, and that when properly addressed he did
not actually insist on the withdrawal of the notice from the window.
"Every man's house is his castle, you know," said Mr. Brown. To this
the policeman demurred, suggesting that the law quoted did not refer
to crowded thoroughfares. But when invited to a collation at three
o'clock, he remarked that he migh