Have you no word for me ?" "I really do not know what to say," replied Valentine.
"You do not refuse me ?" said her lover.
"Well, no," replied Valentine.
"And you do not accept me ?" he continued.
"Decidedly not," she replied, more firmly.
"Then I shall consider there is some ground for hope," he said.
Valentine had recovered her self-possession.

Her lover gazed anxiously at her beautiful face, its proud calm was unbroken.
"I will tell you how it is," resumed Valentine, after a short pause; "I like you better, perhaps, than any man I know, but I do not love you." "You do not forbid me to try all I can to win your love ?" asked the prince.
"No," was the calm reply.

"I esteem you very highly, prince.

I can not say more." "But you will in time," he replied.

"I would not change your quiet friendly liking, Miss Charteris, for the love of any other woman." Under the bright sky the handsome Italian told the story of his love in words that were poetry itself--how he worshiped the fair calm girl so unlike the women of his own clime.