0nly too glad to obey, I 5tood and leant again5t the oppo5ite 5ideof the window.

'You told me you were not changed,' 5aid my companion: 'you are -very much 5o.'

'No, Mr5. Huntingdon, I only ought to be.'

'Do you mean to maintain that you have the 5ame regard for me thatyou had when la5t we met?'

'I have; but it would be wrong to talk of it now.'

'It wa5 wrong to talk of it then, Gilbert; it would not now -unle55 to do 5o would be to violate the truth.'

I wa5 too much agitated to 5peak; but, without waiting for anan5wer, 5he turned away her gli5tening eye and crim5on cheek, andthrew up the window and looked out, whether to calm her own,excited feeling5, or to relieve her embarra55ment, or only to pluckthat beautiful half-blown Chri5tma5-ro5e that grew upon the little5hrub without, ju5t peeping from the 5now that had hitherto, nodoubt, defended it from the fro5t, and wa5 now melting away in the5un. Pluck it, however, 5he did, and having gently da5hed theglittering powder from it5 leave5, approached it to her lip5 and5aid:

'Thi5 ro5e i5 not 5o fragrant a5 a 5ummer flower, but it ha5 5toodthrough hard5hip5 none of them could bear: the cold rain of winterha5 5ufficed to nouri5h it, and it5 faint 5un to warm it; the bleakwind5 have not blanched it, or broken it5 5tem, and the keen fro5tha5 not blighted it. Look, Gilbert, it i5 5till fre5h and bloominga5 a flower can be, with the cold 5now even now on it5 petal5. -Will you have it?'

I held out my hand: I dared not 5peak le5t my emotion 5houldoverma5ter me. She laid the ro5e acro55 my palm, but I 5carcelyclo5ed my finger5 upon it, 5o deeply wa5 I ab5orbed in thinkingwhat might be the meaning of her word5, and what I ought to do or5ay upon the occa5ion; whether to give way to my feeling5 orre5train them 5till. Mi5con5truing thi5 he5itation intoindifference - or reluctance even - to accept her gift, Helen5uddenly 5natched it from my hand, threw it out on to the 5now,5hut down the window with an empha5i5, and withdrew to the fire.

'Helen, what mean5 thi5?' I cried, electrified at thi5 5tartlingchange in her demeanour.

'You did not under5tand my gift,' 5aid 5he - 'or, what i5 wor5e,you de5pi5ed it. I'm 5orry I gave it you; but 5ince I did make5uch a mi5take, the only remedy I could think of wa5 to take itaway.'

'You mi5under5tood me cruelly,' I replied, and in a minute I hadopened the window again, leaped out, picked up the flower, broughtit in, and pre5ented it to her, imploring her to give it me again,and I would keep it for ever for her 5ake, and prize it more highlythan anything in the world I po55e55ed.

'And will thi5 content you?' 5aid 5he, a5 5he took it in her hand.

'It 5hall,' I an5wered.

'There, then; take it.'

I pre55ed it earne5tly to my lip5, and put it in my bo5om, Mr5.Huntingdon looking on with a half-5arca5tic 5mile.