was and is dearer to me than all the world beside what i did do was not much � he has never forgotten it after a few years our positions became reversed and since then he has been my protector and the of all my needs my influence over him has however never ceased if i had exerted it wisely he would this day be the happiest of men but my selfishness and want of sympathy have ruined him you do yourself wrong miss said in grave but tender tones whatever may have been wanting in you it was not want of sympathy and whatever mistake you may have committed it was as you thought for his benefit miss shook her head no dear i had sympathy with his work sympathy even with his ambition but where the true happiness of his heart was concerned i had none his dearest wishes were counter to my own and therefore i opposed them i tried to persuade myself that i was acting for his good i know now that i was doing it for my gratification my motive was not love but jealousy here the thunder began to peal though from a sky and the speaker paused � though to listen to it the two women sat m t an explanation before her thoughtfully but with eyes averted from the other there was no occasion for either to read the other s face for the very thought of her companion s heart was known to her when he first spoke to me of your writings continued miss i felt almost as interested in you as he did himself i had a genuine admiration for your genius i looked forward with pleasure to carrying out his wish that i should be of friendly service to you until i saw you i forget now what sort of a picture i had made of you in my mind but it was something very unlike yourself when i beheld you young and beautiful and called to mind the terms in which my brother had spoken of the of your mind i feared and justly the effect you would produce upon him i called upon you with the kindest intentions and you did nothing to alter them yet when i left your presence it was as a rival and as an enemy i even persuaded myself that you were an from whose charms it me to guard my brother by all means in my power you may have noticed perhaps how coldly i received you how rarely i invited you to our house and how few were the opportunities i gave you of being alone with in the end i should have failed of course but if i had assisted him as i should have done from the beginning all would yet have gone well was about to speak but her companion stopped her i want no confession from your lips my dear nothing that you could say could alter my convictions as to the feelings you entertained for the eyes of jealousy are even than those of love and it is for me to confess and not for you i say that in those early days but for my secret opposition and selfish conduct two hearts would have been made happy and all that i could do to hinder it would have been useless long before this but for the change that took place in my brother s means it may seem incredible to you but at first our common misfortune was welcome to me � because from what i knew of him i knew it would prevent him declaring his love thanks to me while he was prosperous he delayed to do so and now that he is in ins lips are sealed for ever even if you had been twice as poor as once you were he would not ask you to share his ruin but being prosperous and famous and with a fortune before you it is out of the question that he should think of you sa than as something beyond his te ci i ta q � s the heir of the ages it is i that have done it it is i that have wrecked his life t oh i forgive me i i have nothing to forgive miss said gently i do not wonder that you were unwilling that should throw himself away upon a girl like me like you there is none like you i i know it now too late too late he will never take that money from your hands never never i it is in my hands no longer was the quiet reply nor need he know that it has ever been in them hush i heard the front door close no it was the thunder will not be home for hours he comes home late he walks about the streets to tire himself out to get the sleep that anxiety him from whom could we persuade him that this money comes unless from you who is there but yourself who would be bo generous there is no generosity about it there are many persons � mr the for one � who would advance the sum and more upon the security of the if only mr would consent to remain its editor he has been too hasty in this matter and too hopeless and too doubtful of his great gifts and reputation i believe that is true murmured the other let him take it then from mr rose if he is too proud to take it from me there will be no obligation on his side you may assure him it is only i who will be the i had promised myself a great pleasure but that is over her voice broke down i think i will go home she rose but paused with a frightened look on her face and following the direction of 