"
"I suppose not," said Paul.
"It does not matter while I live," pursued Miss Ludington; "but what if I
should die?"
"Let us not talk of that," replied Paul, "or think of it. Yet even in
that event I should be here to protect her."
Miss Ludington regarded the young man for some moments without speaking,
and then, as a slight colour tinged her cheek she said, "Paul, do you
love her?"
"Do you need to ask me that?" he answered.
"No, I do not," she replied; and then as she cast down her eyes, and the
colour in her cheek grew deeper, she went on: "You know, Paul, that, as
society is constituted, there is but one way in which a young man can
protect a young girl who is not his relative, and that is by marrying
her. Have you thought of that?"
Paul's face flushed a deep crimson, and his forehead reddened to the
roots of the hair; after which the colour receded, and he became quite
pale; and then he flushed again deeper than before, till his eyes became
congested, and he saw Miss Ludington sitting there before him, with
downcast eyes and a spot of colour in either cheek, as through a fiery
mist.
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