moment. You go! What! with my heart in your hand, to lay it on your toilet and pierce it with your pins? From my presence you do not stir; out of my reach you do not stray, till I receive a hostage—pledge for pledge—your heart for mine.'
"'The thing you want is mislaid—lost some time since: let me go and seek it.'
"'Declare that it is where your keys often are—in my possession.'
"'You ought to know. And where are my keys, Mr. Moore: indeed and truly, I have lost them again; and Mrs. Gill wants some money, and I have none, except this sixpence.'
"She took the coin out of her apron-pocket, and showed it in her palm. I could have trifled with her; but it would not do: life and death were at stake. Mastering at once the sixpence and the hand that held it, I demanded,—
"'Am I to die without you, or am I to live for you?'
"'Do as you please: far be it from me to dictate your choice.'
"'You shall tell me with your own lips, whether you doom me to exile, or call me to hope.'
"'Go. I can bear to be left.'
"'Perhaps, I too can bear to leave you: but reply, Shirley, my pupil, my sovereign—reply.'
"'Die without me, if you will. Live for me, if you dare.'
"'I am not afraid of you, my leopardess: I dare live for and with you, from this hour till my death. Now, then, I have you: you are mine: I will never
