“Do I remember it?” he said, with a look and emphasis so earnest that a quick blush suffused her eloquent face.  “I see that room as distinctly as you can see it,” he continued.  “It has often been in my dreams, and the changing events of my life have never banished it from my memory for a single day.  How could I forget it, when my heart there received its first and only deep impression.  I have loved you from the first evening I saw you.  Judging that your affections were pre-engaged, I would gladly have loved another, if I could; but though I have since met fascinating ladies, none of them have interested me deeply.”

An expression of pain passed over her face while she listened, and when he paused she murmured softly, “I am sorry.”

“Sorry!” echoed he.  “Is it then impossible for me to inspire you with sentiments similar to my own?”

“I am sorry,” she replied, “because a first, fresh love, like yours, deserves better recompense than it could receive from a bruised and worn-out heart like mine.  I can never experience the illusion of love again.  I have suffered too deeply.”

“I do not wish you to experience the illusion of love again,” he replied.  “But my hope is that the devotion of my life may enable you to experience the true and tender reality” He placed his hand gently and timidly upon hers as he spoke, and looked in her face earnestly.

Without raising her eyes she said, “I suppose you are aware that my mother was a slave, and that her daughters inherited her misfortune.”

“I am aware of it,” he replied.  “But that only makes me ashamed of my country, not of her or of them.  Do not, I pray you, pain yourself or me by alluding to any of the unfortunate circumstances of your past life, with the idea that they can depreciate your value in my estimation.  From Madame and the Signor I have learned the whole story of your wrongs and your sufferings.  Fortunately, my good father taught me, both by precept and example, to look through the surface of things to the reality.  I have seen and heard enough to be convinced that your own heart is noble and pure.  Such natures cannot be sullied by the unworthiness of others; they may even be improved by it.  The famous Dr. Spurzheim says, he who would have the best companion for his life should choose a woman who has suffered.  And though I would gladly have saved you from suffering, I cannot but see that your character has been elevated by it.  Since I have known you here in Rome, I have been surprised to observe how the young romantic girl has ripened into the thoughtful, prudent woman.  I will not urge you for an answer now, my dear Miss Royal.  Take as much time as you please to reflect upon it.  Meanwhile, if you choose to devote your fine musical genius to the opera, I trust you will allow me to serve you in any way that a brother could under similar circumstances.  If you prefer to be a concert-singer, my father had a cousin who married in England, where she has a good deal of influence in the musical world.  I am sure she would take a motherly interest in you, both for your own sake and mine.  Your romantic story, instead of doing you injury in England, would make you a great lioness, if you chose to reveal it.”