nless in some way--'

'Say no more,' he interposed. 'You see me here. You know me as I am,
now.'

'Yes, yes!' the tears stood in her eyes. 'Why did I come, you would ask?
That is what you cannot forgive! I see now how useless it was. Evan! why
did you betray me?'

'Betray you, Rose?'

'You said that you loved me once.'

She was weeping, and all his spirit melted, and his love cried out: 'I
said "till death," and till death it will be, Rose.'

'Then why, why did you betray me, Evan? I know it all. But if you
blackened yourself to me, was it not because you loved something better
than me? And now you think me false! Which of us two has been false? It
's silly to talk of these things now too late! But be just. I wish that
we may be friends. Can we, unless you bend a little?'

The tears streamed down her cheeks, and in her lovely humility he saw
the baseness of that pride of his which had hitherto held him up.

'Now that you are in this house where I was born and am to live, can you
regret what has come between us, Rose?'

Her lips quivered in pain.

'Can I do anything else but regret it all my life, Evan?'

How was it possible for him to keep his strength?

'Rose!' he spoke with a passion that made her shrink, 'are you bound to
this man?' and to the drooping of her eyes, 'No. Impossible, for you do
not love him. Break it. Break the engagement you cannot fulfil. Break it
and belong to me. It sounds ill for me to say that in such a place.
But Rose, I will leave it. I will accept any assistance that your
father--that any man will give me. Beloved--noble girl! I see my
falseness to you, though I little thought it at the time--fool that I
was! Be my help, my guide-as the soul of my body! Be mine!'

'Oh, Evan!' she clasped her hands in terror at the change in him,
that was hurrying her she knew not whither, and trembling, held them
supplicatingly.

'Yes, Rose: you have taught me what love can be. You cannot marry that
man.'

'But, my honour, Evan! No. I do not love him; for I can love but one. He
has my pledge. Can I break it?'

The stress on the question choked him, just as his heart sprang to her.

'Can you face the world with me, Rose?'

'Oh, Evan! is there an escape for me? Think Decide!--No--no! there is
not. My mother, I know, looks on it so. Why did she trust me to be with
you here, but that she thinks me engaged to him, and has such faith
in me? Oh, help me!--be my guide. Think whether you would tr