d refuse him, would do it in a kindly way
that would bid him hope for better luck by and by; but to have his love
flung back in his teeth, as it were, was more than his passionate nature
could bear.

"Oh! so you love him, do you, and spurn me. Tell me, is it so?"

Again she stepped back from him as he was speaking, and was unaware how
very near she was to the edge of the roof; but Hugh observed it, and
thinking he could force a confession from her lips through fear, if by no
other means, he quickly grasped her arm, saying in a voice trembling with
passion:

"Do you love him? Tell me, or I'll throw you over!"

Dexie turned her head, and for one awful moment, as she realized her peril,
her face blanched to her very lips; but instead of the answer Hugh
expected, she raised her eyes to his, and he quailed beneath their terrible
glance, as she cried:

"Throw me over then, you coward, for I'll never tell you!"

An instant they stood thus face to face, on the very edge of the roof, when
Hugh's better nature asserted itself, and he quickly drew her back to
safety, exclaiming hoarsely:

"Forgive me, Dexie, I never meant to do it, indeed I did not; I would not
harm a hair of your dear head for a thousand worlds!"

He felt weak and small before the girl whom he had thought to bend to his
will, and made no effort now to keep her from entering the house, but
stepped to the window beside her and raised it, endeavoring all the while
to get a word of forgiveness from her close-shut lips. She never even
turned her head in his direction, but entered the house and into her own
room, and Hugh was obliged to descend with a more uncomfortable feeling in
his breast than he had felt there when he sought Dexie's presence on the
roof. "Baffled, after all," was his silent comment; "a coward, she called
me; yes, it was a cowardly thing to do, and I might have known she would
resent it. But how handsome she looked as she defied me on the very edge of
the roof! I believe she would not have opened her lips and answered that
question, even to save her life, after she had once refused to speak! But
I'll win her yet, and she will be doubly dear when conquered at last, my
brave Dexie!" and with feelings that were only intensified by this
interview, he returned to the yard to prepare the carriage for the drive to
the depot next morning.

It was some satisfaction to be able to see that everything possible was
done for the comfort of his darling,