ere
Bellamy picked her up."

"I don't know; I wish he hadn't picked her up at all. I don't like
her, she says unpleasant things; and, though I have only seen her
three times, she seems to know all about me and everybody else. I am
not very quick; but do you know just now I thought that she was
insinuating that you were in love with Hilda; that's not true, is it,
Philip? Don't think me forward if I ask you if that is true, and if I
say that, if it is, it is better that I should know it. I sha'n't be
angry, Philip;" and the girl stood before him to await his answer, one
hand pressed against her bosom to still the beating of her heart,
whilst with the other she screened her blushing brow.

And Philip too stood face to face with her sweet self, with
conscience, and with opportunity. "Now," whispered conscience, "is the
time, before very much harm is done; now is the acceptable time to
tell her all about it, and, whilst forbidding her love, to enlist her
sympathy and friendship. It will be wrong to encourage her affection;
when you ardently love another woman, you cannot palter any more."
"Now," whispered opportunity, shouldering conscience aside, "is the
time to secure her, her love, and her possessions, and to reward Hilda
for her pride. Do not sacrifice yourself to an infatuation; do not
tell her about Hilda--it would only breed jealousies; you can settle
with her afterwards. Take the goods the gods provide you."

All this and more passed through his mind; and he had made his choice
long before the rich blood that mantled in the lady's cheek had sunk
back to the true breast from whence it came.

Oh, instant of time born to colour all eternity to thine own hue, for
this man thou hast come and gone! Oh, fleeting moment, bearing
desolation or healing on thy wings, how the angels, in whose charge
lie the souls of men, must tremble and turn pale, as they mark thy
flight through the circumstances of a man's existence, and thence
taking thy secrets with thee away to add thy fateful store to the
records of his past!

He took her hand, the hand that was pressed upon her bosom.

"Maria," he said, "you should not get such ideas into your head. I
admire Hilda very much, and that is all. Why, dear, I have always
looked upon myself as half engaged to you--that is, so far as I am
concerned; and I have only been waiting till circumstances would allow
me to do so, to ask you if you think me worth marrying."

For a while she made