ed into any such base and degrading arrangement as
you propose. She couldn't have lived under the perpetual shame of
deceiving another wife. She couldn't have loved my father, if he had
deceived her as you have deceived me. She trusted him entirely, and in
return he gave her his undivided affection."

"And I give you undivided affection," he replied. "By all the stars
of heaven, I swear that you are now, as you always have been, my Rosa
Regina, my Rosa _munda_."

"Do not exhaust your oaths," rejoined she, with a contemptuous curl of
the lip. "Keep some of them for your Lily Bell, your precious pearl,
your moonlight sylph."

Thinking the retort implied a shade of jealousy, he felt encouraged
to persevere. "You may thank your own imprudence for having overheard
words so offensive to you," responded he. "But Rosa, dearest, you
cannot, with all your efforts, drive from you the pleasant memories of
our love. You surely do not hate me?"

"No, Mr. Fitzgerald; you have fallen below hatred. I despise you."

His brow contracted, and his lips tightened. "I cannot endure this
treatment," said he, in tones of suppressed rage. "You tempt me too
far. You compel me to humble your pride. Since I cannot persuade you
to listen to expostulations and entreaties, I must inform you that my
power over you is complete. You are my slave. I bought you of your
father's creditors before I went to Nassau. I can sell you any day I
choose; and, by Jove, I will, if--"

The sudden change that came over her arrested him. She pressed one
hand hard upon her heart, and gasped for breath. He sank at once on
his knees, crying, "O, forgive me, Rosa! I was beside myself."

But she gave no sign of hearing him; and seeing her reel backward into
a chair, with pale lips and closing eyes, he hastened to summon Tulee.
Such remorse came over him that he longed to wait for her returning
consciousness. But he remembered that his long absence must excite
surprise in the mind of his bride, and might, perhaps, connect itself
with the mysterious singer of the preceding evening. Goaded by
contending feelings, he hurried through the footpaths whence he had so
often kissed his hand to Rosa in fond farewell, and hastily mounted
his horse without one backward glance.

Before he came in sight of the plantation, the perturbation of his
mind had subsided, and he began to think himself a much-injured
individual. "Plague on the caprices of women!" thought he. "All this
come