"Something that I almost despair of obtaining."
"Child, you are wasting your strength and energies in a fruitless undertaking. Already you have grown thin and hollow-eyed; your accustomed contented, cheerful spirit is deserting you. Your self- appointed task is a hopeless one; utterly hopeless!"
"I will not believe it," said she firmly.
"Very well; some day you will be convinced that you are not infallible." He smiled grimly, and busied himself with his flowers.
"Sir, you could help me, if you would." She clasped her hands over his arm, and fixed her eyes on his countenance, with all the confidence and dependence of other days.
"Did I ever refuse you anything you asked?" said he, looking down at the little hands on his arm, and at the pale, anxious face, with its deep, troubled eyes.
"No! and it is precisely for that reason that I ask assistance from you now."
"I suppose you are reduced to the last necessity. What has become of your pride, Beulah?"
"It is all here, in my heart, sir! thundering to me to walk out and leave you, since you are so unlike yourself!"
He looked stern and indescribably sad. She glanced up an instant at his fascinating eyes, and then, laying her head down on his arm, as she used to do in childhood, said resolutely: