“I was willing to realize your dream freely, — generously, as some might think, — but, at all events, fully, and heedless though it should prove the ruin of my fortune.

If, in your own thoughts, you have imposed any conditions of this expenditure, it is you that must be held responsible for whatever is sordid and unworthy in them. And now one other question. Do you love this girl?”

“O Zenobia!” exclaimed Priscilla, shrinking back, as if longing for the rock to topple over and hide her.

“Do you love her?” repeated Zenobia.

“Had you asked me that question a short time since,” replied Hollingsworth, after a pause, during which, it seemed to me, even the birch-trees held their whispering breath,