ght, but yet she felt that there was love in
it--illicit, dishonest love. There was treason in it to her lord's
rights. Her lord! Yes, he was her lord, and it was treason. But it
was very sweet that touch; it was as though a thrill of love passed
across her and embraced her whole body. Treason to such a creature as
that! a brute with a face of brass and feet of clay, who had got hold
of her with a false idea that by her aid he could turn his base brass
into gold as base! Could there be treason to such a one as he? Ah!
what would the world say of her were she to share that flight?

"Caroline," he murmured in her ear. "Caroline; dearest Caroline!"
Thus he murmured soft words into her ear, while his hand still
rested gently on her shoulder--oh, so gently! And still she answered
nothing, but the gurgling of her sobs was audible to him enough.
"Caroline," he repeated; "dearest, dearest Caroline." And then he was
on his knees beside her; and the hand which had touched her shoulder
was now pressed upon her arm.

"Caroline, speak to me--say one word. I will go if you bid me. Yes,
even alone. I will go alone if you have the heart to say so. Speak,
Caroline."

"What would you have me say?" and she looked at him through her
tears, so haggard, so wild, so changed, that he was almost frightened
at her countenance. "What would you have me say? what would you have
me do?"

"I will be your slave if you will let me," said he.

"No, George--you mean that I might be your slave--for awhile, till
you thought me too base even for that."

"Ah! you little know me."

"I should but little know you if I thought you could esteem me
in that guise. There; God's mercy has not deserted me. It is
over now. Go, George--go--go; thou, only love of my heart; my
darling; mine that might have been; mine that never can be
now--never--never--never. Go, George. It is over now. I have been
base, and vile, and cowardly--unworthy of your dear memory. But it
shall not be so again. You shall not blush that you have loved me."

"But, ah! that I have lost your love."

"You shall not blush that you have loved me, nor will I blush that
I, too, have loved you. Go, George; and remember this, the farther,
the longer, the more entirely we are apart, the better, the safer it
will be. There; there. Go now. I can bear it now; dearest, dearest
George."

He took her outstretched hands in his, and stood for awhile gazing
into her face. Then, with the strong motion o