"it would be wiser to make a friend than an enemy of me."

bernardine moore drew herself up to her full height, and looked the scorn she felt for the man standing before her, as he gave utterance to his hatred of doctor gardiner.

"it is a coward only who threatens one who is not present to defend himself!" she answered; adding, icily: "i imagine when you meet doctor gardiner you will find a foeman worthy of your steel."

"you are not in the most amiable mood this evening. i hope you will receive me more pleasantly the next time. good-night, my beautiful sweetheart. au revoir for the present, obstinate though fairest of all sweethearts."

ere bernardine had time to divine his intention, he had caught her in his arms, pressed her close to his throbbing heart, and although she struggled all she knew how, he succeeded in covering her face, her neck, her brow with his hot, wine-tainted kisses, the while laughing hilariously as he noted how loathsome they were to the lovely young girl.

bernardine, with a wild shriek, broke at last from his grasp, and dashed madly from the sitting-room to her own apartment, which she reached in time to fall fainting in miss rogers' arms, the sting of those bitter kisses burning her lips like flame.

as jasper wilde leisurely put on his hat and walked out of the sitting-room, miss rogers suddenly confronted him.

"i would like a word with you, jasper wilde," she said, brusquely, barring his way.

"who are you, and what do you want with me?" he demanded, with a harsh imprecation on his lips, thinking her one of his father's tenants.

"i want to intercede with you for poor bernardine moore," she said, simply. "let me plead with you to forego this marriage, which i earnestly assure you is most hateful to her, for she loves another."

the flashing fire in his hard black eyes might have warned her that he was an edged tool, and that it was dangerous to encounter him.

"out of my way, you cursed old fool!" he cried, savagely; "or i'll take you by the neck and fling you to the bottom of the stairs!"

miss rogers was sorely frightened, but she nobly held her ground.

"your bullying does not terrify me in the least, jasper wilde," she said, calmly. "i have seen such men as you before. i would have talked with you quietly; but since you render that an impossibility, i will end my interview with one remark, one word of warning. attempt to force bernardine moore into this hateful marriage, and it will be at your peril. hear me, and understand what i say: she shall never wed you!"

"i should be as big a fool as you are, woman, if i lost time bandying words with you!" he cried, sneeringly. "if bernardine has deputized you to waylay me and utter that nonsensical threat, you may go back and tell her that her clever little plan has failed ignominiously. i am proof against threats of women."

miss rogers looked after him with wrathful eyes.

"if there was ever a fiend incarnate, that man is one," she muttered. "heaven help poor bernardine if she carries out her intention of marrying him! he will surely kill her before the honeymoon is over! poor girl! what direful power has he over her? alas! i tremble for her future. it would be the marriage of an angel and a devil. poor bernardine! why does she not elope with the young lover whom she loves, if there is no other way out of the difficulty, and live for love, instead of filial duty and obedience?"

bernardine worked harder than ever over her basket-making during the next few days—worked to fill every moment of her time, so as to forget, if she could, the tragedy—for it was nothing less—of her approaching marriage to jasper wilde.

she grew thinner and paler with each hour that dragged by, and the tears were in her eyes all the while, ready to roll down her cheeks when she fancied she was not observed.

once or twice she spoke to miss rogers about the man she loved, telling her how grand, noble, and good he was, and how they had fallen in love with each other at first sight; but she never mentioned his name.

"god help poor bernardine!" she sobbed. "i do not know how to save the darling girl. i think i will lay the matter before my dear young friend, doctor gardiner. he is bright and clever. surely he can find some way out of the difficulty. yes, i will go and see jay gardiner without delay; or, better still, i will write a note to have him come here to see me."

she said nothing to bernardine, but quietly wrote a long and very earnest letter to her young friend, asking him to come without delay to the street and number where he had left her a week previous, as she had something of great importance to consult him about.