Was there aught save the breath of love and peace abroad on the air to-night? Dared a vile vulture of sin to brush with polluting wing over the vines and flowers of these odor-breathing, beam-lighted gardens?
There were low voices in one of the most obscure alcoves, and a man and woman stood in close proximity in its dimmest recess.
A low sigh or sob now and then escaped the woman, as though she struggled to suppress some choking emotion.
"Come," said the man at length, impatiently, "this blubbering will not aid your purpose."
"O, Herbert!" she exclaimed, in a tone which entreated compassion, "you have ceased to love me."
"Ceased to love you?" repeated he, with a low, ironical laugh, "I never yet began."
"You told me so," said she.
"What if I did?" returned he; "is my veracity so immaculate that my slightest word is received as an oath of probity? But I came not here to keep a lover's tryst. You know, or at least I thought you knew, the bond that unites us; and I ask you again if you will do my bidding and serve my interests?"
"I have done both," said the woman; "but you have not fulfilled your promises to me."
"Do you not see the boy when you choose?"