"Then," said Rose, thoughtfully, "there would be dark days when even your society would be irksome to me, when solitude alone could restore the tension of my mind."
"I should respect those days," replied her lover; "I would never intrude upon their sacredness; I would never love you the less for their recurrence."
"Then," said the ingenuous Rose, blushing as she spoke, "the sin which the world wrongly imputes to me will never be forgiven of earth. As your wife I must appear in society; how would you bear the whisper of malice? the sneer of envy?—no, no!" said Rose, while tears stole down her face; "I must meet this alone."
"Rose, you shall not choose!" said the doctor, passionately. "I must stand between you and all this; I declare to you that I will never leave you. If you refuse me the right to protect you legally, I will still watch over you at a distance;—but oh Rose, dear Rose, do not deny me. I have no relations whose averted faces you need fear; my parents are dead. I had a sister once; but whether living or dead I know not. There are none to interfere between us; let us be all the world to each other.
"Charley! plead for me," said the doctor, as he raised the beautiful child in his arms; "who shall pilot your little bark safely? This little hand is all too fragile," and he took that of Rose tenderly in his own—"Nay, do not answer me now; I am selfish so to distress you," said he, as Rose made an ineffectual attempt to speak;—"think of it, dear Rose, and let your answer be kindly; oh, trust me, Rose."
As he stooped to place Charley on the floor, the locket which the child had around his neck became separated from the chain to which it was attached, and, striking upon the floor, touched a spring which opened the lid; under it was a miniature. The doctor gazed at it as if spell-bound.
"Where did you get this, Rose? Surely it can not be yours," and a deadly paleness overspread his face.
"It belongs to a lady who boards here," said Rose, "and who transferred it from her neck to Charley's this morning. Has it any interest for you?"
"What is her name? let me see her!" said the doctor, still looking at the picture.