d she did not speak.

"You will kill me--if it is not true," she said, in a low voice, and
still staring at him with frightened, bewildered eyes.

"Natalie, it is true," said he, stepping forward to catch her by the
arm, for he thought she was going to fall.

She sunk into a chair, and covered her face with her hands--not to cry,
but to think. She had to reverse the belief of a lifetime in a second.

But suddenly she started up, her face still white, her lips firm.

"Take me to her; I must see her; I will go at once."

"You shall not," he said, promptly; but he himself was beginning to
breathe more freely. "I will not allow you to see her until you are
perfectly calm."

He put his hand on her arm gently.

"Natalie," said he, "you must calm yourself--for her sake. She has been
suffering; she is weak; any wild scene would do her harm. You must calm
yourself, my darling; you must be the braver of the two; you must show
yourself very strong--for her sake."

"I am quite calm," she said, with pale lips. She put her left hand over
her heart. "It is only my heart that beats so."

"Well, in a little while--"

"Now--now!" she pleaded, almost wildly. "I must see her. When I try to
think of it, it is like to drive me mad; I cannot think at all. Let us
go!"

"You must think," he said firmly; "you must think of what you are going
to say; and your dress, too. Natalie, you must take that piece of
scarlet ribbon away; one who is nearly related to you has just died."

She tore it off instantly.

"And you know Magyar, don't you, Natalie?"

"Oh yes, yes."

"Because your mother has been learning English in order to be able to
speak to you."

Again she placed her hand over her heart, and there was a look of pain
on her face.

"My dearest, let us go! I can bear no more: my heart will break! See, am
I not calm enough? Do I tremble?"

"No, you are very courageous," he said, looking at her doubtfully.

"Let us go!--let us go!"

Her entreaties overcame his scruples. The things she had thrown aside on
coming in from her morning walk still lay there; she hastily put them
on; and she herself led the way down-stairs. He put her into the hansom,
and followed; the man drove off. She held her lover's hand tight, as a
sign of her gratitude.

"Mind, I depend on you, Natalie," he said.

"Oh, do not fear," she said, rather wildly; "why should one fear? It
seems to me all a strange sort of dream; and I shall waken out of it
by-