d with an emotion
closely akin to ardent enthusiasm that he would never depart from the
line of conduct his father had marked out for him.

Then the Marquis, with a sudden change of tone, said to his son:

"Since you are about to leave home, perhaps for several years, I will
tell you a secret which I should no longer withhold."

"What is it?" demanded Philip, in surprise.

"Dolores is not your sister!"

"Dolores not my sister! Then--"

Philip paused. He dare not utter the thought that had suddenly entered
his mind. On hearing the Marquis' words and learning the truth in regard
to Dolores from his lips, he had experienced an emotion of joy. If he
had given expression to what was passing in his soul, his father would
have heard these words:

"Dolores not my sister! Then she shall be my wife!"

But he controlled himself and his father little suspected the emotion
caused by this revelation. The Marquis related the history of Dolores in
detail, and Philip could scarcely believe his ears when he heard that
the charming girl was the offspring of one of those Bohemians he had
frequently seen by the roadside.

"You must not love her the less," said the Marquis in conclusion. "She
has filled Martha's place in our hearts; we owe to her your mother's
restoration to reason. We should always love and cherish her. She has no
suspicion of the truth; and I wish her to remain in ignorance until I
think proper to acquaint her with the facts."

"Oh! I shall never cease to love her," replied Philip, quickly, thus
repeating to his father the promise he had made to Dolores a few moments
before.

Then, agitated by the news he had heard, he left the Marquis and
rejoined Dolores. He wished to see her alone once more before his
departure. When he approached her, his heart throbbed wildly.

"She is not my sister," he said to himself, exultantly.

She seemed to him an entirely different being. For the first time he
observed that she had exquisitely formed hands of marvellous whiteness
for the first time he shrank from the light of the dark eyes uplifted to
his. He wished that Dolores knew the secret of her birth, and that she
could hear him once again say:

"I love you!"

It was a new emotion to the pure and artless heart of an eighteen-year
old lad; and, yielding to its influence, Philip threw his arms about
Dolores, and, pressing her to his heart, said tenderly:

"I shall always love you--always--I swear it! Remember this prom