He saw the lovely face grow as white as a snow-drop; he saw all the glad light leave the great dark eyes; he saw the beautiful lips pale and the little hands tremble, and the sight was almost more than he could endure, for he read by these signs that which he had guessed before--that the sweet, fond, tender heart of Bernardine had gone out to him as his had gone out to her. 

"Are you sorry, my poor girl?" he asked, brokenly. 

"Yes," she answered, not attempting to stay her bitter tears, "I shall miss you. Life will never be the same to me again." 

He stopped before her, and caught her passionately to him. 

"Dear Heaven, help me to say good-bye to you!" he cried; "for you must realize the truth, Bernardine. I love you--oh, I love you with all the strength of my heart and soul! Yet we must part!" 

CHAPTER XV. 

"I LOVE YOU! I CAN NOT KEEP THE SECRET ANY LONGER!" 

For a moment Bernardine rested in his arms while Jay Gardiner cried over and over again, reckless as to how it would end: 

"Yes, I love you, Bernardine, with all my heart, with all my soul!" 

But it was for a moment only; then the girl struggled out of the strong arms that infolded her, with the expression of a startled fawn in her dark, humid eyes. 

"Oh, Doctor Gardiner, don't; please don't!" she gasped, shrinking from him with quivering lips, and holding up her white hands as though to ward him off. "You must not speak to me; indeed, you must not!" 

"Why should I not tell you the secret that is eating my heart away!" he cried, hoarsely. 

Before he could add another word, she answered, quickly: 

"Let me tell you why it is not right to listen to you, Doctor Gardiner. I--I am the promised wife of Jasper Wilde!" 

If she had struck him a blow with her little white hand he could not have been more astounded. 

His arms fell to his sides, and his face grew ashen pale. 

"You are to marry Jasper Wilde?" he cried out, hoarsely. "I can not believe the evidence of my own senses, Bernardine!" 

 Prev. P 33/179 next