"
"Oh, it is that!"
"It is that partly,"
"If I were a man you might take it, though I were young and beautiful
as the morning?"
"No;--presents of money are always bad. They stain and load the
spirit, and break the heart."
"And specially when given by a woman's hand?"
"It seems so to me. But I cannot argue of it. Do not let us talk of
it any more."
"Nor can I argue. I cannot argue, but I can be generous,--very
generous. I can deny myself for my friend,--can even lower myself in
my own esteem for my friend. I can do more than a man can do for a
friend. You will not take money from my hand?"
"No, Madame Goesler;--I cannot do that."
"Take the hand then first. When it and all that it holds are your
own, you can help yourself as you list." So saying, she stood before
him with her right hand stretched out towards him.
What man will say that he would not have been tempted? Or what woman
will declare that such temptation should have had no force? The very
air of the room in which she dwelt was sweet in his nostrils, and
there hovered around her an halo of grace and beauty which greeted
all his senses. She invited him to join his lot to hers, in order
that she might give to him all that was needed to make his life rich
and glorious.
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