il,' as
he fancied he saw her touched, 'you have never known me yet; but trust
yourself and him to me, and you will give him a true brother, proud of
his nobleness. You shall see him constantly--you shall keep your
sisters with you. Only put yourself in my hands, and you shall know
what devotion is.'

He would have said more, but Averil recalled herself, and said: 'This
is mere folly; you would be very sorry, were I to take you at your
word. It would be unworthy in me towards your father, towards Henry,
towards you, for me to listen to you, even if I liked you, and that you
have taken good care to prevent me from doing.' And she opened the
door, and made her way into the hall.

'But, Averil!--Miss Ward!' he continued, pursuing her, 'if, as I swear
I will, I track out the real offender, bring him to justice, proclaim
Leonard's innocence? Then--'

She was half-way up the stairs. He had no alternative but to take his
hat and stride off in a tumult of dismay, first of all at the
rejection, and next at his own betrayal of himself. Had he guessed
what it would come to, would he ever have trusted himself in that
drawing-room? This was the meaning of it all, was it? He, the
sensible man of the family, not only to be such an egregious ass, but
to have made such a fool of himself! For he was as furious at having
committed himself to himself, as he was at his avowal to Averil--he,
who had always been certain of loving so wisely and so well, choosing
an example of the true feminine balance of excellence, well born, but
not too grand for the May pretensions; soundly religious, but not
philanthropically pious; of good sense and ability enough for his
comfort, but not of overgrown genius for his discomfort; of good looks
enough for satisfaction, but not for dangerous admiration; of useful,
but not overwhelming wealth; of creditable and not troublesome
kindred--that he should find himself plunged headlong into love by
those brown eyes and straight features, by the musical genius, talents
anything but domestic, ill-regulated enthusiasm, nay, dislike to
himself, in the very girl whose station and family he contemned at the
best, and at the very time when her brother was a convict, and her
sisters dependent! Was he crazed? Was he transformed? What frenzy
had come over him to endear her the more for being the reverse of his
ideal? And, through all, his very heart was bursting at the thought of
the wounds he had given her