I sank into sudden and immediate silence--I watched Harry. I was mortified, grieved, humiliated--I could have left the room and gone away somewhere to cry by myself; but this would only make matters worse, and I did not wish Harry to think me unreasonable or exacting. But he saw that I grew very pale, he saw the tears in my eyes, and how firmly my hands clasped each other. He suddenly said something in English--the stranger answered, and this cause of distress to me was gone; but now the Professor was speaking of having visited Harry in England. "And that house you were speaking of," said the German, "that, ho--I know not your names--did you never go to live in it then?" "No, no, I have never been there," said Harry, hastily, "a place I was thinking of--of settling in, Hester," he explained to me in a very timid way, "when you are next in England you must see a true English home, Professor--no bachelor's quarters now." "Ah, my young friend, I have not forgot what you did say about _la belle cousine_," said the Professor, with a smile at me. I sat as still as if I had been made of stone. I saw Harry's face flush with a violent color; but no color came to my cheek--I felt cold, rigid, desolate. I shivered over all my frame with the chill at my heart. For he had said so often that I was the only one who had ever entered his heart--that he had known no love of any kind till he knew me. Alas! were these all vain words; the common deceits of the world--and what was I to believe or trust in, if my faith failed in Harry? I tried to believe it was some foolish jest, but though I might have persuaded myself so from the unconscious smile of the Professor, there was guilt on Harry's brow. I did not change my position in the slightest gesture. I sat very still, scarcely drawing my breath. The momentary pause that followed was an age to me. While the silence lasted, I had already tried to persuade myself that whatever might have been, Harry loved me only now--but I could not do it--I was sick to my very heart. I heard him dash into conversation again, into talk upon general subjects, vague and uninteresting. I listened to it all with the most absorbing interest to find something more on this one point, if I could. Then, by and bye, the stranger went away. I bade him good-night mechanically, and sat still, hearing the wood crackling in the stove, and Harry's footsteps as he returned from the door. He came in, and sat down beside me on the sofa. He took my cold hand and clasped it between his. He said "Hester--Hester--Hester!" every time more tenderly, till I could bear it no longer, and burst into tears. "Oh, Harry! you might have told me," I exclaimed passionately, "you might have said that you cared for some one else before you cared for me!" "It would have been false, if I had said so, Hester," he answered me, in a very low earnest tone. "Oh, Harry, Harry! do not deceive me now," I said, making a great effort to keep down a sob.