canst not. I saw you two kissing. When he first came in he went and
stood beside thy bed and looked down at it, biting at his beard, as is
his wont when he is moved; and then he fell upon his knees, whispering
something, and kissed the pillow, over and over, and when he stood up he
drew his hand across his eyes, and all for love of thee. So now, then!"

"Is that true, Desire? Can it be true that he cares for me in that
fashion?" asked Priscilla falling back bewildered, for she knew no more
than did Desire that hers was the bed where Rose Standish had breathed
her last sigh, and her husband had looked his last on her sweet face.

"Certes, 't is true, and thou knowest it better than I, for when, later
on, he came to give thee a drink and wet thy forehead and lips, thou
didst give him back his kiss right tenderly, and mutter something of
'love' and 'darling.'"

"I kissed Myles Standish!" cried Priscilla wildly.

"Ay, kissed the hand that held the cup, and when he came to me I told
him I had seen it all, and that I knew before that thou lovedst him."

"Thou saidst I loved him!"

"Ay, and he said he loved thee not, nor any woman, but 't was a blind,
for such a weary sigh as he fetched, and turned to look again at thee."

"I kissed him, and thou saidst I loved him, and he said he loved me
not!" cried Priscilla blindly; and then with a wild cry she burst into a
delirious laugh, ending in a shriek that brought Doctor Fuller from the
next room.

"What is this! what is toward!" demanded he glancing from Priscilla to
Desire, who replied in her sullen tones,--

"I know not, except that Captain Standish and Priscilla are sweethearts,
and I told her I saw them kissing last night, and haply she is shamed as
well she may be."

"And well mayst thou be doubly shamed," replied the doctor sternly, "to
torment her into frenzy with thy jealous fancies, and she already at
death's door. Thou sawest naught, whatever thou mayst have dreamed; and
mark me now, Desire Minter, I forbid thee to speak one word more, good
or bad, to Priscilla Molines while thou stayest here; and if thou
heedest not, I'll put thee in another house and leave thee to shift for
thyself."

Thoroughly cowed, the mischief maker promised obedience, and the doctor
turned to the delirious girl, whom he finally quieted to a moaning
sleep, in which he left her, muttering to himself as he went,--

"Not a month since his wife died in that bed--well--'t is no concern of