and the words
came through them like a moan.

Olive stirred uneasily. She could see that the girl was suffering,
although she did not guess at the cause.

"Yes," continued Clarence, laying his hand gently upon hers;
"Madeline,--will you let me call you Madeline?--will you let me be
your brother? I have no sister, almost no kin; I won't be an exacting
brother," smilingly. "I won't overstep the limits you set me, but we
must have done with this nonsense about benefactors, and gratitude,
and all that."

No answer, eyes down dropped, face still half-averted, and looking as
if hardening into marble.

"What is my fate?" still holding her hand. "Can you accept so unworthy
a brother?"

"Yes," in such a cold, far-away tone.

He lifted the hand to his lips. "Thank you, Madeline," he said, as if
she had done him high honor.

Madeline felt her courage failing her. How could she listen to him,
talk to him, with anything like sisterly freedom, and not prove false
to her resolve to further his cause with Claire? And yet how could she
refuse him the trust he asked of her?

It was very pleasant to know that he was thus interested in her; she
felt herself slipping quickly into a day-dream in which nothing was
distinct save that there existed a bond between them, that he had
claimed the right to exercise authority over her, and that she was
very, very glad even to be his slave. Listening to his voice, a smile
crept to her lips, and--

"The eyes smiled too,
But 'twas as if remembering they had wept,
And knowing they would some day weep again."

"I don't intend to give up my claims upon Madeline; I elected her my
sister, when I brought her home with me. And I had been flattering
myself that I was to have a companion, but I am afraid she will run
away from me. She ought to take Claire's place in my home, ought she
not? Claire is with me so little," said Olive.

Madeline smiled sadly. "I could never do that," she said; "I could no
more fill Claire's place than I could substitute myself for the rays
of the sun."

"Claire would laugh at you for that speech," said Olive.

"But it is true; is it not?" appealing to Doctor Vaughan.

He colored slightly under her gaze. "We don't want two Claires," he
said; "but you can be yourself, and that will make us happy."

The girl let her eyes fall, and rest upon her clasped hands.

"I would like to make you happy," she said, softly.

"Really?"

"Really," lif