the subject, please. But you will have to let me
go to-morrow, Mr. Prime. I am very sorry to inconvenience you, but, as I
have already said, it is imperative."

My words were so cold that I could see he was puzzled, and my heart
softened toward him a little. At least he had been kind to me. He walked
on for a few moments without speaking. We entered the Park, and turned
into a path where we should be unobserved.

"I have no right to inquire into your private affairs, I well know," he
said presently, "but I wish you would let me help you."

"I am sure of your sympathy, Mr. Prime; and if you could be of any
service in the matter, I would call upon you."

"Where does your aunt live?"

"I had rather not answer that question."

He looked grave, and as I glanced at him a frown passed over his face.
"He is thinking doubtless," thought I, "that it is I who have done
something wrong, and am trying to mislead him; or he is reflecting how
wise he was not to offer himself to a woman with whose antecedents he is
unacquainted. He mistrusts me at the first hint of suspicion, and would
sacrifice his love on the altar of conventionality." Curiously enough, I
seemed to take it for granted that he was in love with me.

"And you must go to-morrow?" he asked.

"To-morrow, without fail."

"But you will return soon?"

"I do not expect to return at all."

"Impossible! You cannot go!" he said with a sudden outburst; but he
corrected himself in a restrained voice: "I do not mean, of course, that
you cannot go if you choose."

"I am quite aware, Mr. Prime, that this will cause you great annoyance,"
said I. "If it were possible for me to remain until you could find
another assistant without neglecting duties that are still more
important, I would do so."

He made a motion as though to wave that consideration aside. "No one can
take your place. But that is not all. Let us sit down, Miss Bailey; I
have something to say to you. I had meant to say it very soon, but it
must be said now or never. I love you!"

I trembled like a leaf at his avowal,--I did not even yet know why.

"I love you from the bottom of my soul," he said once more, and now his
words were poured out in a passionate flood, to which I listened with a
strange joy that thrilled me through and through.

"I have never loved before. You are the first, the very first woman in
the world who has ever touched my heart. I did not know what it was to
love until a few days ag