"Are you fixed upon going?" she said at last; and then she started, for his voice rang out now strongly. "Yes," he cried, "I must." "Alone, with no hand to help you to fight this good fight? No: you must not go alone. Take me with you. I will go." He started from the chimney-piece, for a wildly delirious thought made his brain reel; but she stood there before him, pale and calm, as if the words she had uttered were of the simplest kind. He made almost a superhuman effort over self as he felt that the mad thought within him must be crushed. "No," he said coldly; "your love for the profession you embraced leads you astray. I shall find nurses there. What, you?" he cried almost fiercely. "Woman, your place is here." She took a step toward him, and held out her hands, and her voice was very low. "I thought all that was dead for me," she almost whispered, "that the past had burned my heart to ashes, and I have fought long and hard to do my duty in the path that I had marked out for my own through life. I did not know. Neil, how could you misjudge me so!" He seemed to stagger at her words; his lips moved, but no sound came, and when at last he spoke, his voice sounded hoarse and strange. "But Alison--my brother?" he cried. "Alison--your brother!" she said softly, and with a trace of scorn in her tones. "How could you be so blind!" Neil started violently, and gazed at the pained face before him. "Am I mad?" he muttered; and then aloud: "Be so blind--I blind? What do you mean? In Heaven's name, speak!" She looked at him fixedly, with her eyes contracting, but she spoke no word. "Do you hear me?" he cried fiercely. "You do not answer, Elisia--my brother? No, no, I am not blind. I knew--I saw--he loved you from the first hour he saw you. You cannot deny it. Is that false? Am I blind?" "In that, no," she said coldly. "Well, what is that to me? Could I help the insane folly of the man who persecuted me, as you say, from the hour of my arrival at your house?" "But," he cried in a low, hoarse whisper, "I have seen and believed-- believed, but not without seeing. Elisia, for pity's sake, tell me-- have I been so blind?" "In reading me, yes. Neil, how could you think that I could ever love your brother? You ought to have known it was impossible." "Hush! What are you saying?" he cried, as he eagerly caught her hands. "The simple truth," she said gently. "I have crushed it down, but I have loved you long and well." "No, no," he cried, "for Heaven's sake! You will drive me mad." "No," she whispered; "it cannot be unwomanly at a time like this." "Too late--too late!" and he drew back, covered his face with his hands, and let his head fall upon the cold marble at his side.