“Do not say any more!” she exclaimed, and was on the point of leaving him abruptly, but checked herself, and, turning in the open low window, held out her hand to him. “You have called me friend. Let us remain friends,” she said.
He touched the hand, and released it without a word, and they separated.
Half an hour afterward Bianca’s face peeped out into the moonlight. “Are you still here, papa?” she said, and went to him. “Good-night, dear.”
He embraced her gently, and echoed her good-night, but did not detain her a moment.
“What! papa romancing here all alone?” exclaimed Isabel in her turn. “It isn’t good for your complexion nor for your disposition. Late hours and too much thinking make one sad.”
“Therefore you should go to bed directly,” was his reply.
She kissed him merrily and left him alone.
TO BE CONTINUED.