"No," she said; "I must not let you go. In common gratitude I ought
to decide before you leave me, and I do decide to take you into my
confidence." She hesitated; her color rose a little. "I know how
unselfishly you offer me your help," she resumed; "I know you speak to
me as a brother might speak to a sister--"

He gently interrupted her. "No," he said; "I can't honestly claim to do
that. And--may I venture to remind you?--you know why."

She started. Her eyes rested on him with a momentary expression of
reproach.

"Is it quite fair," she asked, "in my situation, to say that?"

"Would it have been quite fair," he rejoined, "to allow you to deceive
yourself? Should I deserve to be taken into your confidence, if I
encouraged you to trust me, under false pretenses? Not a word more of
those hopes on which the happiness of my life depends shall pass my
lips, unless you permit it. In my devotion to your interests, I promise
to forget myself. My motives may be misinterpreted; my position may be
misunderstood. Ignorant people may take me for that other happier man,
who is an object of interest to you--"

"Stop, Mr. Mirabel! The person to whom you refer has no such claim on me
as you suppose."

"Dare I say how happy I am to hear it? Will you forgive me?"

"I will forgive you if you say no more."

Their eyes met. Completely overcome by the new hope that she had
inspired, Mirabel was unable to answer her. His sensitive nerves
trembled under emotion, like the nerves of a woman; his delicate
complexion faded away slowly into whiteness. Emily was alarmed--he
seemed to be on the point of fainting. She ran to the window to open it
more widely.

"Pray don't trouble yourself," he said, "I am easily agitated by any
sudden sensation--and I am a little overcome at this moment by my own
happiness."

"Let me give you a glass of wine."

"Thank you--I don't need it indeed."

"You really feel better?"

"I feel quite well again--and eager to hear how I can serve you."

"It's a long story, Mr. Mirabel--and a dreadful story."

"Dreadful?"

"Yes! Let me tell you first how you can serve me. I am in search of
a man who has done me the cruelest wrong that one human creature can
inflict on another. But the chances are all against me--I am only
a woman; and I don't know how to take even the first step toward
discovery."

"You will know, when I guide you."

He reminded her tenderly of what she might expect from him, and was
rew