"Do you think it will do for me to come here after your sister has told me that it was useless for me to aspire to her hand?"
She gave him for the first time a glance that had the element of mirthfulness in it.
"Come as my friend," she suggested; then in a more serious mood added: "It is her only chance of happiness, but I do not know that I would be doing right in influencing you to pursue a suit which may not be for yours. You know, or will know after reflection (and I advise you to reflect well), whether an alliance with women situated as we are would be conducive to your welfare. If you decide yes, think that a woman taken by surprise, as my sister undoubtedly was, may not in the first hurried moment of decision know her own mind, but also remember that no woman who has taken such a decision as she has, is cast in the common mould, and that you may but add to your regrets by a persistency she may never fully reward."
Astonished at her manner and still more astonished at the intimation conveyed in her last words, he looked at her as one who would say:
"But you also share her fate and the resolve that made it."
She seemed to understand him.
"Free Hermione," she whispered, "from the shackles she has wound about herself and you will free me."
"Miss Emma," he began, but she put her finger on her lips.
"Hush!" she entreated; "let us not talk any more about it. I have already said what I never meant should pass my lips; but the affection I bear my sister made me forget myself; she does so need to love and be loved."
"And you think I——"