“In _him_. Yes, my kind—my too forbearing friend. Evelyn, the once idolized, petted, spoiled—the capricious, the heartless coquette—the once proud beauty—loves for the first time, with that love which is her doom. His presence is my light and life; his absence my soul’s despair. And yet, Mary, not one word of love has he ever spoken; and since that ball he has never been here—never written—he so exact, so chivalrous in his politeness. Oh, Mary, why—why this so sudden change?” She fixed her sad eyes, round which were two dark circles—sign of many a sleepless night—imploringly on my face. “I will find out for you,” I said; “you shall at least be spared the pangs of suspense.” “Ah, me!” she murmured, “men little know the hours of patient watching and waiting we poor women suffer. ’Tis not to be wondered at we make the best Christians—‘_the patience of hope_.’ I understand it now.” I took a _coupé_, and in less than an hour I had returned, for D’Arcy resided in the Rue Castiglione. Evelyn, still seated where I had left her, sprang to her feet, almost shrieking as she saw my solemn countenance, “Bad news! Oh, tell me the worst!” “Mr. D’Arcy,” I said, “is ill.” “Not dead!—not dead! Oh, speak!” “No; but seriously ill.” “I will go to him, instantly.” “Stay, Evelyn,” I said, with authority, “he is unworthy of your love.” She looked at me in blank astonishment. “The fever he has, he caught in the low neighborhoods, and among the disreputable company he frequents.” She laughed hysterically. “What!” she said, “the noble D’Arcy—the refined, the spiritual. Never, by my hopes of Heaven. Go, Mary, would you have me hate you? Look you, he is true and pure as the blessed sunlight.—Unhand me, I say; let me fly to him.” “Oh! Evelyn, pause, I implore you. What will the world say?” “What it likes. Ah! is it _my_ Mary who would dissuade me from tending a fellow-creature in sickness—a stranger in a strange land? No; she will rather assist me, and when exhausted nature requires that the ‘sister of mercy’ should take food and rest, _my_ Mary will then relieve her at her post.” Evelyn passed her arm caressingly around me. How could I find it in my heart to refuse her? and so our compact was sealed with a kiss.