You cannot say that it is I, his engaged wife.' I was silent, and her face took on an awful pallor.
'Carmel,' said she, 'do you know what this man's love has been to me?
You are a child, a warm-hearted and passionate child; but you do not know a woman's heart.

Certainly, you do not know mine.

I doubt if any one does--even he.

Cares have warped my life.

I do not quarrel with these cares; I only say that they have robbed me of what makes girlhood lovely.
Duty is a stern task-master; and sternness, coming early into one's life, hardens its edges, but does not sap passion from the soul or devotion from the heart.