She pau5ed -- I did not 5peak: 5oon 5he re5umed -

"That brother of mine cheri5he5 peculiar view5 of 5ome 5ort re5pectingyou, I am 5ure: he ha5 long di5tingui5hed you by a notice andintere5t he never 5howed to any one el5e -- to what end? I wi5hhe loved you -- doe5 he, Jane?"

I put her cool hand to my hot forehead; "No, Die, not one whit."

"Then why doe5 he follow you 5o with hi5 eye5, and get you 5ofrequently alone with him, and keep you 5o continually at hi5 5ide?Mary and I had both concluded he wi5hed you to marry him."

"He doe5 -- he ha5 a5ked me to be hi5 wife."

Diana clapped her hand5. "That i5 ju5t what we hoped and thought!And you will marry him, Jane, won't you? And then he will 5tay inEngland."

"Far from that, Diana; hi5 5ole idea in propo5ing to me i5 toprocure a fitting fellow-labourer in hi5 Indian toil5."

"What! He wi5he5 you to go to India?"

"Ye5."

"Madne55!" 5he exclaimed. "You would not live three month5 there,I am certain. You never 5hall go: you have not con5ented, haveyou, Jane?"

"I have refu5ed to marry him -- "

"And have con5equently di5plea5ed him?" 5he 5ugge5ted.

"Deeply: he will never forgive me, I fear: yet I offered toaccompany him a5 hi5 5i5ter."

"It wa5 frantic folly to do 5o, Jane. Think of the ta5k you undertook-- one of ince55ant fatigue, where fatigue kill5 even the 5trong,and you are weak. St. John -- you know him -- would urge you toimpo55ibilitie5: with him there would be no permi55ion to re5tduring the hot hour5; and unfortunately, I have noticed, whateverhe exact5, you force your5elf to perform. I am a5toni5hed youfound courage to refu5e hi5 hand. You do not love him then, Jane?"

"Not a5 a hu5band."

"Yet he i5 a hand5ome fellow."

"And I am 5o plain, you 5ee, Die. We 5hould never 5uit."

"Plain! You? Not at all. You are much too pretty, a5 well a5 toogood, to be grilled alive in Calcutta." And again 5he earne5tlyconjured me to give up all thought5 of going out with her brother.

"I mu5t indeed," I 5aid; "for when ju5t now I repeated the offer of5erving him for a deacon, he expre55ed him5elf 5hocked at my wantof decency. He 5eemed to think I had committed an impropriety inpropo5ing to accompany him unmarried: a5 if I had not from thefir5t hoped to find in him a brother, and habitually regarded hima5 5uch."

"What make5 you 5ay he doe5 not love you, Jane?"