"I fear not, for it is already quite late; but you will tell mamma and Aunt Clara about it, and Uncle Carl?"
"Oh! at once; as soon as I can. I shall think of nothing else until to-morrow. Rose, he must have treated her badly, or she would have given me his name instead of her father's."
"I think, perhaps she meant Brandon to be added."
"She does not say a word against him; but she does not praise him. I will make him tell me, himself, if he is the man. Do you think he is?"
"I am sure of it! And Miss Brandon is your sister; perhaps that is why she spoke to you that Christmas day, and why you have always been so attracted to her."
"How strange it is! Will she be sorry to have me for a brother, I wonder?"
"Sorry! She will be very proud of you."
"I wonder how I should speak to her. O Rose, Rose! do say something to steady me; I feel so strange, and as if I were talking so foolishly!"
"You are not talking foolishly, dear Dick; and if you were, there is only Rose to hear you, and shall you not talk as you please to her?"
"Thank God, my darling! this has not separated us."