Shirley

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 let you go. Wherever my home be, I have chosen my wife. If I stay in England, in England you will stay; if I cross the Atlantic, you will cross it also: our lives are riveted; our lots intertwined.‹
    ›And are we equal then, sir? Are we equal at last?‹
    ›You are younger, frailer, feebler, more ignorant than I.‹
    ›Will you be good to me, and never tyrannize?‹
    ›Will you let me breathe, and not bewilder me? You must not smile at present. The world swims and changes round me. The sun is a dizzying scarlet blaze; the sky a violet vortex whirling over me.‹
    I am a strong man, but I staggered as I spoke. All creation was exaggerated: colour grew more vivid; motion more rapid; life itself more vital. I hardly saw her for a moment; but I heard her voice – pitilessly sweet. She would not subdue one of her charms in compassion: perhaps she did not know what I felt.
    ›You name me leopardess: remember, the leopardess is tameless,‹ said she.
    ›Tame or fierce, wild or subdued, you are
mine.
‹
    ›I am glad I know my keeper, and am used to him. Only his voice will I follow; only his hand shall manage me; only at his feet will I repose.‹
    I took her back to her seat, and sat down by her side: I wanted to hear her speak again: I could never have enough of her voice and her words.
    ›How much do you love me?‹ I asked.
    ›Ah! you know: I will not gratify you: I will not flatter.‹
    ›I don't know half enough: my heart craves to be fed. If you knew how hungry and ferocious it is, you would hasten to stay it with a kind word or two.‹
    ›Poor Tartar!‹ said she, touching and patting my hand: ›poor fellow; stalwart friend; Shirley's pet and favourite, lie down!‹
    ›But I will not lie down till I am fed with one sweet word.‹
    And at last she gave it.
    ›Dear Louis, be faithful to me: never leave me. I don't care for life, unless I may pass it at your side.‹
    ›Something more.‹
    She gave me a change: it was not her way to offer the same dish twice.
    ›Sir!‹ she said, starting up, ›at your peril, you ever again name such sordid things as money, or poverty, or inequality. It will be absolutely dangerous to torment me with these maddening scruples. I defy you to do it.‹
    My face grew hot. I did once more wish I were not so poor, or she were not so rich. She saw the transient misery; and then, indeed, she caressed me. Blent with torment, I experienced rapture.
    ›Mr. Moore,‹ said she, looking up with a sweet, open, earnest countenance, ›teach me and help me to be good. I do not ask you to take off my shoulders all the cares and duties of property; but I ask you to share the burden, and to show me how to sustain my part well. Your judgment is well-balanced; your heart is kind; your principles are sound. I know you are wise; I feel you are benevolent; I believe you are conscientious. Be my companion through life; be my guide where I am ignorant: be my master where I am faulty; be my friend always!‹
    ›So help me God, I will!‹«
     
    Yet again, a passage from the blank book, if you like, reader; if you don't like it, pass it over: –
    »The Sympsons are gone; but not before discovery and explanation. My manner must have betrayed something, or my looks: I was quiet, but I forgot to be guarded sometimes. I stayed longer in the room than usual; I could not bear to be out of her presence; I returned to it, and basked in it, like Tartar in the sun. If