as I
heard the low laugh that rippled from Jacqueline's lips as she turned to
go up to her room; and if I had been her mother--

"But that is not what you want to hear. Enough that I did not follow
her, that I did not even acquaint Colonel Japha with my fears, that
indeed I did nothing but lie awake, praying and asking what I ought to
do. There had been so little said; there had been so little done. A
word, a sentence between them, the interchange of a couple of songs,
and--What else that I could communicate to another?

"A week, two weeks passed, and her look of wilful happiness did not fly.
She was flooded with notes from her accepted lover, whose handwriting I
had learned by this time to distinguish, but not one, so far as I could
learn, from any other source; yet her feet tripped lightly through the
house, and her form had a rich grace in its every movement, that bespoke
a mind settled in some deep joy or quiet determination. I felt the
impenetrability of a secretly cherished hope, whenever I looked at her.
If I had not known to the contrary, I should have said that her
prospective marriage had become to her a dream of unfathomable delight.
Whence then came this rapture? Through what communication was born this
secret hope? I could not guess, I could only watch and wait.

"Meanwhile some random guesses at the truth had been made by the
neighbors. Jacqueline had a lover. That lover was a gentleman; but the
Colonel was critical; he had refused his consent and the young people
had parted. Such was the talk, begotten perhaps by the persistency with
which Jacqueline remained in the house, and the almost severe look with
which Colonel Japha trod the streets of his native village, which he
soon felt would lose all their charm in the departure of his only child.
I scarcely ventured out more than Jacqueline; for I have but little
control over my feelings and did not know what I would do, if any one
should closely press me with questions.

"The unexpected discovery that our pretty young servant girl was in the
habit of stealing into Jacqueline's room late at night, was the first
thing that startled me into asking whether or not my supposition was
true, that Jacqueline received no messages from Mr. Robert Holt. And
scarcely had I become certain that a clandestine correspondence was
being carried on between them through the medium of this girl, then the
climax came, and knowledge on my part and secrecy on hers availed no
l