“Have you ever known me not to do what I said I would do?”
“Evan! Good heaven! you did it? Then how can you remain here an instant? Oh, no, no!—say no, darling!”
“Where is Louisa?” he inquired.
“She is in her room. She will never appear at breakfast, if she knows this.”
“Perhaps more solitude would do her good,” said Evan.
“Remember, if this should prove true, think how you punish her!”
On that point Evan had his own opinion.
“Well, I shall never have to punish you in this way, my love,” he said fondly, and Caroline dropped her eyelids.
“Don’t think that I am blaming her,” he added, trying to feel as honestly as he spoke. “I was mad to come here. I see it all now. Let us keep to our place. We are all the same before God till we disgrace ourselves.” Possibly with that sense of shame which some young people have who are not professors of sounding sentences, or affected by missionary zeal, when they venture to breathe the holy name, Evan blushed, and walked on humbly silent. Caroline murmured: “Yes, yes! oh, brother!” and her figure drew to him as if for protection. Pale, she looked up.
“Shall you always love me, Evan?”