hat or anything else for me; good-by, for the
present."

"Where are you going now? tic! tic! I never can get a word in peace with
you."

"I am not going to commit murder. I'm only going up-stairs to my
sister."

"Poor Madame Raynal, she makes it very hard for me not to dislike her."

"Dislike my Josephine?" and Rose bristled visibly.

"She is an angel, but I should hate an angel if it came forever between
you and me."

"Excuse me, she was here long before you. It is you that came between
her and me."

"I came because I was told I should be welcome," said Edouard bitterly,
and equivocating a little; he added, "and I dare say I shall go when I
am told I am one too many."

"Bad heart! who says you are one too many in the house? But you are
too exigent, monsieur; you assume the husband, and you tease me. It is
selfish; can you not see I am anxious and worried? you ought to be kind
to me, and soothe me; that is what I look for from you, and, instead of
that, I declare you are getting to be quite a worry."

"I should not be if you loved me as I love you. I give YOU no rival.
Shall I tell you the cause of all this? you have secrets."

"What secrets?"

"Is it me you ask? am I trusted with them? Secrets are a bond that not
even love can overcome. It is to talk secrets you run away from me
to Madame Raynal. Where did you lodge at Frejus, Mademoiselle the
Reticent?"

"In a grotto, dry at low water, Monsieur the Inquisitive."

"That is enough: since you will not tell me, I will find it out before I
am a week older."

This alarmed Rose terribly, and drove her to extremities. She decided to
quarrel.

"Sir," said she, "I thank you for playing the tyrant a little
prematurely; it has put me on my guard. Let us part; you and I are not
suited to each other, Edouard Riviere."

He took this more humbly than she expected. "Part!" said he, in
consternation; "that is a terrible word to pass between you and me.
Forgive me! I suppose I am jealous."

"You are; you are actually jealous of my sister. Well, I tell you
plainly I love you, but I love my sister better. I never could love any
man as I do her; it is ridiculous to expect such a thing."

"And do you think I could bear to play second fiddle to her all my
life?"

"I don't ask you. Go and play first trumpet to some other lady."

"You speak your wishes so plainly now, I have nothing to do but to
obey."

He kissed her hand and went away disconsolately.

Rose, ins