mmitted myself, I snatched
the papers from her, and might have torn them to pieces but for the
gentle restraining hand she laid upon mine.

"You cannot help it," she said, the tears falling from her eyes, but
with a self-command of which I could not have supposed her capable.
"It seems hard on me; but it is better so. It is not that you are not
content with me, not that you love me less. I can bear it better when
it comes from a stranger, and is forced upon you without, and even, I
think, against your will."

The pressure of the arm that clasped her waist, and the hand that held
her own, was a sufficient answer to any doubt that might be implied in
her last words; and, lifting her eyes to mine, she said--

"I shall always remember this. I shall always think that you were
sorry not to have at least a little while longer alone with me. It is
selfish to feel glad that you are pained; but your sympathy, your
sharing my own feeling, comforts me as I never could have been
comforted when, as must have happened sooner or later, you had found
for yourself another companion."

"Child, do you mean to say there is 'no portal to this passage;' and
that, however much against my will, I am bound to women I have never
seen, and never wish to see?"

"You have signed," replied Eveena gently. "The contracts are stamped,
and are in the official's hands; and you could not attempt to break
them without giving mortal offence to the Prince, who has intended you
a signal favour. Besides, these girls themselves have done no wrong,
and deserve no affront or unkindness from you."

I was silent for some minutes; at first simply astounded at the calm
magnanimity which was mingled with her perfect simplicity, then,
pondering the possibilities of the situation--

"Can we not escape?" I said at last, rather to myself than to her.

"Escape!" she repeated with surprise. "And from what? The favour shown
you by our Sovereign, the wealth he has bestowed, the personal
interest he has taken in perfecting every detail of one of the most
splendid homes ever given save to a prince--every incident of your
position--make you the most envied man in this world; and you would
escape from them?"

Gazing for a few moments in my face, she added--

"These maidens were chosen as the loveliest in all the Nurseries of
two continents; every one of them far more beautiful than I can be,
even in your eyes. Pray do not, for my sake, be unkind to them or try
to disl