Amy was at breakfast in her room , sobbing and sipping , moaning and munching , for , though her grief was great , her appetite was good , and she was in no mood to see anything comical in cracking eggshells while she bewailed her broken heart , or in eating honey in the act of lamenting the bitterness of her fate . Casimer would have become desperate had he seen her in the little blue wrapper , with her bright hair loose on her shoulders , and her pretty face wet with tears , as she dropped her spoon to seize his flowers , -- three dewy roses , one a bud , one half and the other fully blown , making a fragrant record and avowal of the love which she must renounce . `` Oh , my dear boy ! how can I give him up , when he is so fond , and I am all he has ? Helen , uncle must let me write or go to mamma . She shall decide ; I ca n't ; and no one else has a right to part us , '' sobbed Amy , over her roses . `` Casimer will not marry , dear ; he is too generous to ask such a sacrifice , '' began Helen , but Amy cried indignantly , -- `` It is no sacrifice ; I 'm rich . What do I care for his poverty ? '' `` His religion ! '' hinted Helen , anxiously . `` It need not part us ; we can believe what we will . He is good ; why mind whether he is Catholic or Protestant ? '' `` But a Pole , Amy , so different in tastes , habits , character , and beliefs . It is a great risk to marry a foreigner ; races are so unlike . '' `` I do n't care if he is a Tartar , a Calmuck , or any of the other wild tribes ; I love him , he loves me , and no one need object if I do n't . '' `` But , dear , the great and sad objection still remains -- his health . He just said he had but a little while to live . '' Amy 's angry eyes grew dim , but she answered , with soft earnestness , -- `` So much the more need of me to make that little while happy . Think how much he has suffered and done for others ; surely I may do something for him . Oh , Nell , can I let him die alone and in exile , when I have both heart and home to give him ? ''
Helen could say no more ; she kissed and comforted the faithful little soul , feeling all the while such sympathy and tenderness that she wondered at herself , for with this interest in the XXXXX of another came a sad sense of loneliness , as if she was denied the sweet experience that every woman longs to know .
bud foreigner health love need poverty room sacrifice tears uncle