"What I have been, you know--you must have thought of lately. What I am now, a poor, plain girl, self-taught and homely, who may shame you with her ignorance--you know too. Sidney, I have dwelt upon this lately--until this night, now I am face to face with the truth, I thought that I had made up my mind." "To refuse me?" "No--to accept you. To be your loving wife through life, aiding you, and keeping you from harm; but, now I shrink back from my answer!" "Ah!" he said, mournfully; "it is natural." "Not for my own sake," she added, quickly, "but for yours! For your happiness, not mine! Sidney, you have _not_ settled down; you are not resigned to this present lot in life; there is a restlessness which you subdue now you are well and strong, but which may defeat you in the days to come. Years hence, I may be a trouble to you, a regret--you, a gentleman's son, and I--a stray! I may have made amends for my past life, but I cannot forget it; there will come times when to you and me the memory may be very bitter yet!" "No, no!" "Sidney, when I was that neglected child, I think I had a grateful heart; for I appreciated all the kindness that helped me upwards, and turned me from the dangerous path I was pursuing. I did not forget one friend who stretched his helping hand towards me--I have remembered them all in my progress, the agents of that good God, whose will it was that I should not be lost! Sidney, I would marry you out of gratitude for that past, if I honestly believed you built your happiness upon me; but I could not let you marry _me_ out of gratitude, or think to make me happy by a share of affection that had no real existence. I would do all for you!" she said, vehemently; "but you must make no effort to raise _me_ from any motives but your love!" Sidney started--coloured. Had he misunderstood Mattie until that day?--was he the victim of his own treacherous thoughts after all?--the dupe of an illusion which he had hoped to foster by believing in himself? "Sidney, I will be patient and wait for the love--hope in it advancing nearer and nearer every day--strive for it even, if you will, and it lies in my power. But I am above all charity." "Mattie, you are not romantic? You do not anticipate from me, in my desolate position, all the passionate protestations of a lover? You will believe that I look forward to you as the wife in whom alone rests the last chance of happiness for me?" "We cannot tell what is our last chance," said Mattie; "it is beyond our foresight--God will give us many chances in life, and the best may not have fallen to your share or mine. Sidney, there _was_ a chance of happiness for you once--on which you built, and in which you never thought of me--do you regret that now?" she asked, with a woman's instinctive fear that the old love still lingered in his heart. "Mattie, I regret nothing in the past. And in the future, I am hopeful of your aid and love. Can I say more?"