He could not fail to notice her emotion, and that she was excessively pale.
"You look like a ghost, Anna," he remarked, as he searched her face with some anxiety. "What is the matter with you? I fear you are going to be ill."
"I am ill," she said, in a hoarse, unnatural tone.
"Then let me call your physician," said her brother, eagerly. "I am going out immediately, and will leave a message for him."
"No, no," she nervously replied; then with a hollow laugh that smote heavily upon her companion's heart, she added: "My case is beyond the reach of Dr. Hunt or any other physician."
"Anna, have you been quarreling with Gerald again?"
"Yes," was the brief response.
"Well, of course I can understand that such matters are beyond the skill of any physician," said the young man, with a half-impatient shrug of his shoulders; "neither have I any business to interfere between you," he added; "but my advice would be to make it up as soon as possible, and then try to live peaceably in the future. I do not like to leave you looking so white and miserable, but I must go. Take good care of yourself, and I shall hope to find you better and happier when I return."
He bent down to give her a farewell caress, and was amazed by the passion she manifested in returning it.
She threw her arms around his neck and held him in a convulsive embrace, while she quivered from head to foot with repressed emotion.