"Not like you, Rosamond?" and over his fine features there came a look of pain, which increased as Rosamond continued:--"You are so cold at times, and shun me as it were; inventing excuses to drive me from you when you know I would rather stay." "Oh, Rosamond," he groaned, "how mistaken you are. The world would be to me a blank were it not for you; and if my manner is sometimes cold and cruel, it is because stern duty demands it should be so. I cannot lay bare my secret heart to you of all others, but could you know me as I am, you would censure much, but pity more." He paused a moment, then, scarcely knowing what he said, he continued--"Rosamond, we will understand each other. _I shall never marry_--never _can_ marry. In your intercourse with me, will you always remember that?" "Why, yes," answered Rosamond, puzzled to comprehend him. "I'll remember that you say so, but it is not likely you'll keep your word." "I am not trifling with you," he said." Marriage is not for _me_. There is a dreadful reason why I cannot marry, and if at times I am cold toward you, it is because--because--" Rosamond's eyes were riveted upon his face--darker and darker they grew, becoming at last almost black in their intensity. She was beginning to understand him, and coloring crimson, she answered, bitterly: "I know what you would say, but you need have no fears, for I never aspired to that honor. Rosamond Leyton has yet to see the man she could love." "Rosamond," and Mr. Browning's voice was so low, so mournful in its tone that it quelled the angry feelings in the young girl's bosom, and she offered no resistance when he came to her side and took her hand in his, saying as he did so--"Listen to me. You came here a little girl, and at first I did not heed you, but you made your presence felt in various ways, until at last I thought I could not live without you. You are a young lady now--the world calls you beautiful. To me you are beautiful. Oh, _so_ beautiful," and he laid one hand upon her shining hair, softly, tenderly nay, proudly, as if she had been his child. "I am not old yet, and it would be natural that we should love each other, but we must not--we cannot." "And lest I should love you too well, you have tried to make me hate you," interrupted Rosamond, trying in vain to release herself from his powerful grasp, and adding, "but you can spare yourself the trouble. I like you too well to hate you; but as I live, I would not marry you if I could. I mean what I say!"