"Have you ever loved any one, Edward?" she asked him, looking him in the eyes.
For an instant the name of Marie Louise fluttered in his mind, and then he said: "I don't believe I have until now."
She did not appear to take any notice of his last words, but a satisfied look came over her face. She changed the subject and asked him if he was going to St. Paul on the morrow.
"I will have to—my friend will not want to wait any longer."
"Let him go alone," she suggested.
"But what will I do here?"
"What will you do in St. Paul?"
"Well, I do not know—but we will likely go into some kind of business, my friend and I, and then I can come back and see you."
She looked at Edward for an instant, and a queer light came in her eyes, as she said: "You will not go; you can do just as well here as in St. Paul. As to your friend, let him go; or, if he will remain here, I will help him to find something to do."
Not go! It was a new turn of things, and Edward did not know what to say.