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d. She dropped down upon a bench between two trees, and he took his seat at her side. "Ralph," began she, with a visible effort, "I hardly know what to say to you; but there is something which I must tell you--my father wishes you to leave us at once." "And YOU, Bertha?" "Well--yes--I wish it too." She saw the painful shock which her words gave him, and she strove hard to speak. Her lips trembled, her eyes became suffused with tears, which grew and grew, but never fell; she could not utter a word. "Well, Bertha," answered he, with a little quiver in his voice, "if you, too, wish me to go, I shall not tarry. Good-bye." He rose quickly, and, with averted face, held out his hand to her; but as she made no motion to grasp the hand, he began distractedly to button his coat, and moved slowly away. "Ralph." He turned sharply, and, before he knew it, she lay sobbing upon his breast. "Ralph," she murmured, while the tears almost choked her words, "I could not have you leave me thus. It is hard enough--it is hard enough--" "What is hard, beloved?" She raised her head abruptly, and turned upon him a gaze full of hope and doubt, and sweet perplexity. "Ah, no, you do not love me," she whispered, sadly. "Why should I come to seek you, after these many years, dearest, if I did not wish to make you my wife before God and men? Why should I--" "Ah, yes, I know," she interrupted him with a fresh fit of weeping, "you are too good and honest to wish to throw me away, now when you have seen how my soul has hungered for the sight of you these many years, how even now I cling to you with a despairing clutch. But you cannot disguise yourself, Ralph, and I saw from the first moment that you loved me no more." "Do not be such an unreasonable child," he remonstrated, feebly. "I do not love you with the wild, irrational passion of former years; but I have the tenderest regard for you, and my heart warms at the sight of your sweet face, and I shall do all in my power to make you as happy as any man can make you who--" "Who does not love me," she finished. A sudden shudder seemed to shake her whole frame, and she drew herself more tightly up to him. "Ah, no," she continued, after a while, sinking back upon her seat. "It is a hopeless thing to compel a reluctant heart. I will accept no sacrifice from you. You owe me nothing, for you have acted toward me honestly and uprightly, and I shall be a stronger, or--at
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