Page:Robert William Cole - The Struggle for Empire; A Story of the Year 2236 (1900).djvu/147

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A PEACEFUL INTERVAL
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But such feelings only took possession of his mind when his pretty nurse was absent. His love for her came rushing back as soon as she returned, putting to flight all prudential considerations. Sometimes he resolved to confess everything to her, and ask to be removed to some other house, where he would not be exposed to her seductive attractions; but as soon as she came into the room his courage gradually oozed away, and perhaps he was not sorry that it did.

And so at last he resigned himself to the inevitable. They always talked together and behaved as lovers, and her brother began to look upon them as already engaged. She effected the conquest of his heart more and more every day as she flitted about before him, a smile on her lips, and her wealth of golden hair falling in silken ripples down her back. He thought he had never seen anyone so pretty or so engaging before. It was many months now since he had seen