a baby in my arms, and
soothe its little cries, and make it grow up to be happy and good, and a
blessing to every one. Some women don't care for children--but I should
have loved mine!"

She paused a moment, and Helmsley took her hand, and silently pressed it
in his own.

"However,"--she went on, more lightly--"it's no good grieving over what
cannot be helped. No man has ever really loved me--because, of course,
the one I was engaged to wouldn't have thrown me over just because I was
poor if he had cared very much about me. And I shall be thirty-five this
year--so I must--I really _must_"--and she gave herself an admonitory
little shake--"settle down! After all there are worse things in life
than being an old maid. I don't mind it--it's only sometimes when I feel
inclined to grizzle, that I think to myself what a lot of love I've got
in my heart--all wasted!"

"Wasted?" echoed Helmsley, gently--"Do you think love is ever wasted?"

Her eyes grew serious and dreamy.

"Sometimes I do, and sometimes I don't"--she answered--"When I begin to
like a person very much I often pull myself back and say 'Take care!
Perhaps he doesn't like _you!_'"

"Oh! The person must be a 'he' then!" said Helmsley, smiling a little.

She coloured.

"Oh no--not exactly!--but I mean,--now, for instance,"--and she spoke
rapidly as though to cover some deeper feeling--"I like _you_ very
much--indeed I'm fond of you, David!--I've got to know you so well, and
to understand all your ways--but I can't be sure that you like _me_ as
much as I like _you_, can I?"

He looked at her kind and noble face with eyes full of tenderness and
gratitude.

"If you can be sure of anything, you can be sure of that!"--he said--"To
say I 'like' you would be a poor way of expressing myself. I owe my very
life to you--and though I am only an old poor man, I would say I loved
you if I dared!"

She smiled--and her whole face shone with the reflected sunshine of her
soul.

"Say it, David dear! Do say it! I should like to hear it!"

He drew the hand he held to his lips, and gently kissed it.

"I love you, Mary!" he said--"As a father loves a daughter I love you,
and bless you! You have been a good angel to me--and I only wish I were
not so old and weak and dependent on your care. I can do nothing to show
my affection for you--I'm only a burden upon your hands----"

She laid her fingers lightly across his lips.

"Sh-sh!" she said--"That's foolish talk, and I