"Yes, I think so. Don't you sometimes feel as if you'd like to stay here
altogether?"
"Yes, and no; it's very lovely, and the more charming I believe, because
it is my own; but--there is so much more to bind me to the Oaks, and I
could never live far away from papa."
"Couldn't you? I hoped---- Oh, Elsie, couldn't you possibly love some one
else better even than you love him? You're more to me than father, mother,
and all the world beside. I have wanted to tell you so for years, but
while I was comparatively poor your fortune sealed my lips. Now I am rich,
and I lay all I have at your feet; myself included; and----"
"Oh, Harold, hush!" she cried in trembling tones, flushing and paling by
turns, and putting up her hand as if to stop the torrent of words he was
pouring forth so unexpectedly that astonishment had struck her dumb for an
instant; "oh! don't say any more, I--I thought you surely knew that--that
I am already engaged."
"No. To whom?" he asked hoarsely, his face pale as death, and lips
quivering so that he could scarcely speak.
"To Mr. Travilla. It has been only for a few weeks, though we have loved
each other for years. Oh, Harold, Harold, do not look so wretched! you
break my heart, for I love you as a very dear brother.
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