Trembling with apprehension, the old basket-maker dropped into the nearest chair.
His haggard face had grown terribly pale, and his emaciated hands shook, while his eyes fairly bulged from their sockets. The agony of mind he was undergoing was intense.
"Will Bernardine refuse this man?" he muttered to himself, "Oh, if I but dared tell her all, would she pity, or would she blame me?"
He loved the girl after his own fashion; but to save himself he was willing to sacrifice her. Poor Bernadine! Had she but known all!
CHAPTER XII.
"YOU ARE FALSE AS YOU ARE FAIR, BERNARDINE!"
"I should think your own common sense would tell you. Surely you must have guessed what I am so eager to say, Miss Bernardine?" Jasper Wilde began, taking little heed of her father.
The girl's white lips opened, but no sound came from them. He was right; she quite expected it; but she did not tell him so.
"I might as well break right into the subject at once," he said. "My errand can be told in a few words. I have fallen deeply in love with your pretty face, and I am here to ask you to marry me. Mind, I say to marry me! What do you think of it?"
The girl drew back hurriedly.