night?"

"He said a great deal,--of course; but nothing about that;--nothing
about that exactly."

"Oh, Clary, I'm afraid of him."

"What is the good of fear? The evil is, dear, I think he likes me,
but it may so well be that he cannot speak out. He is in debt, and
all that;--and he must wait."

"But that is so terrible. What will you do?"

"I will wait too. I have thought about it, and have determined.
What's the good of loving a man if one won't go through something for
him? I do love him,--with all my heart. I pray God I may never have a
husband, if I cannot be his wife." Patience shuddered in her sister's
embrace, as these bold words were spoken with energy. "I tell you,
Patty, just as I tell myself, because you love me so dearly."

"I do love you;--oh, I do love you."

"I do not think it can be unmaidenly to tell the truth to you and
to myself. How can I help telling it to myself? There it is. I feel
that I could kiss the very ground on which he stands. He is my
hero, my Paladin, my heart, my soul. I have given myself to him for
everything. How can I help myself?"

"But, Clary,--you should repress this, not encourage it."

"It won't be repressed,--not in my own heart. But I will never,
never, never let him know that it has been so,--till he is all my
own. There may be a day when,--oh,--I shall tell him everything;
how wretched I was when he did not speak to me;--how broken-hearted
when I heard his voice with Mary; how fluttered, and half-happy,
and half-wretched when I found that I was to have that long walk
with him;--and then how I determined to wait. I will tell him
all,--perhaps,--some day. Good-night, dear, dear Patty. I could not
sleep without letting you know everything." Then she sprang out from
her sister's arms, and pattered back across the room to her own bed.
In two minutes Clarissa was asleep, but Patience lay long awake, and
before she slept her pillow was damp with her tears.

In the course of the following week Ralph was again at the villa. Sir
Thomas, as a matter of course, was away, but the three girls were at
home; and, as it happened, Miss Spooner had also come over to take
her tea with her friends. The hour that he spent there was passed
half indoors and half out, and certainly Ralph's attentions were
chiefly paid to Miss Bonner. Miss Bonner herself, however, was so
discreet in her demeanour, that no one could have suggested that any
approach had been made to flirtation. To tell th