"In everything else I do assure you, so far--and I may even in that; I must, for I have set my heart upon it." She turned to him with a glance of scorn and anger. But his face was so full of genuine emotion, of anxiety and passion and pain, that its handsome commonplace character became almost poetic. His lips were quivering; and she could see drops of moisture on his shining forehead, and his eyes were positively glittering as if in tears. "Don't speak harshly to me," he pleaded; "for I don't deserve it. I love you with all my heart, and today more than ever--a thousand times more--for you have shown yourself so generous and forgiving--and--and like a Christian." Then for the first time the thought came, a conviction, into her mind--"He really is sincere!" A great wave of new compassion swept away all other emotions. "Mr. Sheppard," she said in softened tones, "I do ask of you not to say any more of this. I couldn't love you even if I tried, and why should you wish me to try? I am not worth all this--I tell you with all my heart that I am not worth it, and that you would think so one day if I were foolish enough to--to listen to you. Oh! indeed you are better without me! I wish you every success and happiness. I don't want to marry." "Once," he said, "you told me there was no one you cared for but a man in a book. I wonder is that so now?" In spite of herself the color rushed into Minola's face. It was a lucky question for her, however unlucky for him, because it recalled her from her softer mood to natural anger. "You can believe me in love with any one you please to select in or out of a book, Mr. Sheppard, so long as it gives you a reason for not persecuting me with your own attentions. I like a man in a book better than one out of it; it is so easy to close the book and be free of his company when he grows disagreeable." She did not look particularly like a Christian then, probably, in his eyes. He left her, his heart bursting with love and anger. When Mary Blanchet returned she found Minola pale and haggard, her eyes wasted with tears. CHAPTER XIII. A MAN OF THE TIME.