"Oh!" she thought, "if I didn't love him! if I had only his merciless mother to think of!" Uneasily conscious of some estrangement between them, Horace spoke again.

"Surely I have not offended you ?" he said.
She turned toward him once more.

The work dropped unheeded on her lap.
Her grand eyes softened into tenderness.

A smile trembled sadly on her delicate lips.

She laid one hand caressingly on his shoulder.