She couldn't have loved my father, if he had deceived her as you have deceived me.

She trusted him entirely, and in return he gave her his undivided affection." "And I give you undivided affection," he replied.

"By all the stars of heaven, I swear that you are now, as you always have been, my Rosa Regina, my Rosa _munda_." "Do not exhaust your oaths," rejoined she, with a contemptuous curl of the lip.

"Keep some of them for your Lily Bell, your precious pearl, your moonlight sylph." Thinking the retort implied a shade of jealousy, he felt encouraged to persevere.

"You may thank your own imprudence for having overheard words so offensive to you," responded he.