care for him,
and now he is a great man, and I'm proud of him, and not all the
wealth of the world shall take me away.'

"One thing I will say, though, for the sister that isn't to be,
and that is, that you are deceiving yourself if you suppose that
she is going to reconcile herself to your separation while she is
kept in the dark as to the cause of it. It is all very well for
you to pay compliments to her beauty and youth and the natural
strength of her mind to remove passing impressions, but perhaps
the impressions are the reverse of passing ones, and if you go out
of her life, what is to become of her? Have you thought of that?
Of course you haven't.

"No, no, no! My poor sister! you shall not be so hard on her! In
my darkness I could almost fancy that I personate her, and I am
she and she is I. Conceited, isn't it? But I told you it wasn't
for nothing I was a daughter of Eve. Anyhow I have fought hard for
her and beaten you out and out, and now I don't say: 'Will you go
to her?' You will--I know you will.

"My bust is out of the caster's hand, and ought to be under mine,
but I've done no work again to-day. Tried, but the glow of soul
was not there, and I was injuring the face at every touch.

"No further news of M----, and my heart's blood is cold at the
silence. But if you are fearless, why should I be afraid?--Your
friend's friend, R."

X

Before going to bed that night, Rossi replied to Roma.

"My Dearest,--Bruno will take this letter, and I will charge him
on his soul to deliver it safely into your hands. When you have
read it, you will destroy it immediately, both for your sake and
my own.

"From this moment onward I throw away all disguises. The
duplicities of love are sweet and touching, but I cannot play
hide-and-seek with you any longer.

"You are right--it is you that I love, and little as I understand
and deserve it, I see now that you love me with all your soul and
strength. I cannot keep my pen from writing it, and yet it is
madness to do so, for the obstacles to our union are just as
insurmountable as before.

"It is not only my unflinching devotion to public work that
separates us, though that is a serious impediment; it is not only
the inequality of our birth and