y should it be hopeless?--' began Louis.

'Hush! you are the last person with whom I could discuss this subject,'
he said, trying to be fierce, but with more sorrow than anger. 'I must
bear my burthen alone. Believe me, I struggled hard. If you and I be
destined to clash, one comfort is, that even I could never quarrel with
you.'

'I have not the remotest idea of your meaning.'

'So much the better. No, so much the worse. You are not capable of
feeling what I do for her, or you would have hated me long ago. Do not
stay here! I do not know that I can quite bear the sight of you--But
don't let me lose you, Louis.'

James wrung the hand of his cousin; and no sooner was he alone, than he
began to pace the room distractedly.

'Poor Jem!' soliloquized Fitzjocelyn. 'At least, I am glad the trouble
is love, not the Ordination. But as to his meaning! He gives me to
understand that we are rivals--It is the most absurd thing I ever
knew--I declare I don't know whether he means Mary or Isabel. I
suppose he would consider Mary's fortune a barrier--No, she is too
serene for his storms--worthy, most worthy--but she would hate to be
worshipped in that wild way. Besides, I am done for in that quarter.
No clashing there--! Nay, the other it can never be--after all his
efforts to lash me up at Christmas. Yet, he was much with her, he made
Clara sacrifice the clasp to her. Hm! She is an embodied romance,
deserving to be raved about; while for poor dear Mary, it would be
simply ridiculous. I wish I could guess--it is too absurd to doubt,
and worse to ask; and, what's more, he would not stand it. If I did
but know! I'm not so far gone yet, but that I could leave the field to
him, if that would do him any good. Heigh ho! it would be en regle to
begin to hate him, and be as jealous as Bluebeard; but there! I don't
know which it is to be about, and one can't be jealous for two ladies
at once, luckily, for it would be immensely troublesome, unless a good,
hearty quarrel would be wholesome to revive his spirits. It is a bad
time for it, though! Well, I hope he does not mean Mary--I could not
bear for her to be tormented by him. That other creature might reign
over him like the full moon dispersing clouds. Well! this is the
queerest predicament I ever heard of!' And on he wandered, almost as
much diverted by the humour of the doubt, as annoyed by the dilemma.

He had no opportunity for farther investigation: James remo