"I will bless you for even those words," returned Maxwell, hastily,
feeling that he had gained the first point.

"But I do not intend to encourage your suit," promptly returned the
lady.

"Be not again unkind! Veil not that heavenly sympathy in the coldness of
indifference again!"

"I wish not to be harsh, or unkind. You have before given me an index of
your sentiments, and I have endeavored, by all courteous means, to
discountenance them."

"Yet I have always found something upon which to base a flickering
hope."

"If you have, I regret it all the more."

"Do not say so! Changed as has been your demeanor towards me, I have
dared to fan the flame in my heart, till now it is a raging fire, and
beyond my control."

"I cannot give my hand where my heart is uninterested," replied the
lady, feelingly. "I love you not. I am candid, and plain, and I trust
this unequivocal declaration will forever terminate any hope you have
cherished in relation to this matter. Painful as I now feel it must be
for you to hear, and painful as it is to me, on that account, to declare
it, I repeat--I can never reciprocate the affection you profess. And now
let this interview terminate. It is too painful to be prolonged;"--and
she again moved towards the door.