"Read what is on the first page."
She reads the inscription: "From Dan to his dearest friend and brother, Joshua. With undying love and confidence."
"You know the love that existed between Dan and me, Minnie?"
"I know. It is perfect. Why do you say existed? Surely it exists!"
"I don't know; I'm afraid to think. Your words are in some sort comforting to me; for they prove you have acted in ignorance, and that you have not wilfully wronged me."
She looks at him imploringly.
"You will understand presently," he says.
He takes Ellen's lock of hair, and presses it to his lips, and kisses Ellen's portrait also. The hot blood flushes into Minnie's face, then suddenly deserts it, and she clasps her hands convulsively. She is but woman, after all. Yet she controls her agitation sufficiently to ask in an unsteady voice,--
"Is it necessary to speak further of this, Joshua?"
"It is more than necessary," he replies; "it is imperative. My duty and my honor demand it."