conversed in the doorway of the sitting room which de now entered crossing it to s apartment he came out from the latter at a pensive pace she is doing well he said gently you have been very good to her was the chair i saw by her bed the one you have been sitting in all night i sometimes sat there sometimes here i wish i could have sat beside you and held your hand � i speak frankly to excess and why not i do not wish to hide from you any comer of my breast futile as may be just heaven for what reason is it ordered that courtship in which soldiers are usually so successful should be a failure with me your lack of foresight chiefly in indulging feelings that were not encouraged that and my uncle s permission to you to travel with us have our relations in a way that i could neither foresee nor avoid though of late i have had apprehensions that it might come to this you vex and disturb me by such words of regret not more than you vex and disturb me but you cannot hate the man who loves so i have said before i don t hate you i repeat that i am interested in your family and its associations because of its complete contrast with my own she might have added and i am ii a t now because my uncle has forbidden me to be but you don t care enough for me personally to save my happiness hesitated fix m the moment de confronted her she had felt that this conversation was to be a grave business the cathedral clock struck three i have thought once or twice she with a unusual in her that if i could be sure of giving peace and joy to your mind by becoming your wife i ought to endeavour to do so and make the best of it � merely as a charity but i believe that feeling is a mistake your discontent is constitutional and would go on just the same whether i accepted you or no my refusal of you is purely an imaginary grievance not if i think otherwise oh no she murmured with a sense that the place was very lonely and silent if you think it otherwise i suppose it is otherwise my darling my he said seizing her hand do promise me something you must indeed captain de she said trembling and turning away captain de she tried to withdraw her fingers then faced him exclaiming in a firm voice a third time captain de let go my hand for i tell you i will not marry you good god he cried dropping her hand what have i driven you to say in your anger it � oh it don t urge me further as you value my good opinion de and to lose you now is to lose you for ever come please answer i won t be compelled she interrupted with vehemence i am resolved not to be yours � not to give you an answer to night never never will i be reasoned out of my intention and i say i won t answer you to night i should never have let you be so much with me but for pity of you and now it is come to this she had sunk into a chair and now leaned upon her hand and buried her face in her handkerchief he had never caused her any such agitation as this before you me with your words continued de the experience i have had with you is without parallel it seems like a dream i won t be hurried by anybody that may mean anything he said with a perplexed passionate air well mine is a fallen family and we must abide would to heaven it was extinguished what was extinguished she murmured the de here am i a wanderer living on my pay in the next room lies she my sister a poor little fragile feverish invalid with no social position � and hardly a we two represent the de line and i wish we were behind the iron door of our old vault at sleeping green it can be seen by looking at us and our circumstances that we cry for the earth and oblivion captain de it is not like that i assure you s with damp i love f a too dearly for you to talk like that indeed i don t want to marry you exactly and yet i cannot bring myself to say i permanently reject you because i remember you are s brother and do not wish to be the cause of any feelings in you which would ruin your future prospects my dear life what is it you doubt in me your earnestness not to do me harm makes it all the harder for me to think of never being more than a friend well i have not positively refused she exclaimed in mixed tones of pity and distress let me think it over a little while it is not generous to urge so strongly before i can collect my thoughts and at this midnight time darling forgive it � there tu say no more he then offered to sit up in her place for the remainder of the night but declined assuring him that she meant to stay only another half hour after which nobody would be necessary he had already crossed the landing to ascend to his room when she stepped after him and asked if he had received his no said de nor have i heard of one explained that it was put in his room that he might see it the moment he came in it matters very little he replied since i shall see it now good night dearest good night he added tenderly she gravely shook 