Never, while I
live."
"But--but if I never see you any more"....
Monsieur Maurice drew my head to his shoulder, and kissed my wet eyes.
"Tush! that cannot, shall not be," he said, caressingly. "Some day,
perhaps, I may win back that old home by the sea of which I have so often
told thee, little one; and then thou shalt come and visit me."
"Shall I?" I said, wistfully. "Shall I indeed?"
And he said--"Ay, indeed."
But I felt, somehow, that it would never come to pass.
After this, we got up and walked on again, very silently; he thinking of
the new life before him; I, of the sorrow of parting. By-and-by, a sudden
recollection flashed upon me.
"But, Monsieur Maurice," I exclaimed, "who was the brown man that stood
behind your chair last night, and what has become of him?"
Monsieur Maurice turned his face away.
"My dear little Gretchen," he said, hastily, "there was no brown man. He
existed in your imagination only."
"But I saw him!"
"You fancied you saw him. The room was dark. You were half asleep in the
easy chair--half asleep, and half dreaming."
"But Hartmann saw him!"
"A wicked man fears his own shadow," said Monsieur Maurice, gravely.
"Hartmann saw nothing but the reflection of his crime upon the mirror of
his conscience.
Pages:
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106