"
"Madame, I would not listen to you it you would; for I have done
nothing to deserve thanks. I wish I could tell you what I felt
when Ormiston told me you were alive and safe."
"You are very kind, but pray do not call me madame. Say
Leoline!"
"A thousand thanks, dear Leoline!" exclaimed Sir Norman, raising
her hand to his lips, and quite beside himself with ecstasy.
"Ah, I did not tell you to say that!" she cried, with a gay laugh
and vivid blush. "I never said you were to call me dear."
"It arose from my heart to my lips," said Sir Norman, with
thrilling earnestness and fervid glance; "for you are dear to me
- dearer than all the world beside!"
The flush grew a deeper glow on the lady's face; but, singular to
relate, she did not look the least surprised or displeased; and
the hand he had feloniously purloined lay passive and quite
contented in his.
"Sir Norman Kingsley is pleased to jest," said the lady, in a
subdued tone, and with her eyes fixed pertinaciously on her
shining dress; "for he has never spoken to me before in his
life!"
"That has nothing to do with it, Leoline. I love you as
devotedly as if I had known you from your birthday; and, strange
to say, I feel as if we had been friends for years instead of
minutes.
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