e. Quit town somewhat earlier than usual, and, in the
meantime, receive her, if necessary; but, if possible, never alone. You
have many friends; and, if no other, Lady Caroline St. Maurice is worthy
of your society.'

He bent down his head and kissed her forehead: she pressed his faithful
hand.

'And now, dear May, let me speak of a less important object, of myself.
I find this borough a mere delusion. Every day new difficulties arise;
and every day my chance seems weaker. I am wasting precious time for one
who should be in action. I think, then, of returning to Vienna, and at
once. I have some chance of being appointed Secretary of Embassy, and
I then shall have achieved what was the great object of my life,
independence.'

'This is always a sorrowful subject to me, Arundel. You have cherished
such strange, do not be offended if I say such erroneous, ideas on the
subject of what you call independence, that I feel that upon it we
can consult neither with profit to you nor satisfaction to myself.
Independence! Who is independent, if the heir of Dacre bow to anyone?
Independence! Who can be independent, if the future head of one of
the first families in this great country, will condescend to be the
secretary even of a king?'

'We have often talked of this, May, and perhaps I have carried a morbid
feeling to some excess; but my paternal blood flows in these veins, and
it is too late to change. I know not how it is, but I seem misplaced in
life. My existence is a long blunder.'

'Too late to change, dearest Arundel! Oh! thank you for those words. Can
it, can it ever be too late to acknowledge error? Particularly if, by
that very acknowledgment, we not only secure our own happiness, but that
of those we love and those who love us?'

'Dear May! when I talk with you, I talk with my good genius; but I am
in closer and more constant converse with another mind, and of that I am
the slave. It is my own. I will not conceal from you, from whom I have
concealed nothing, that doubts and dark misgivings of the truth and
wisdom of my past feelings and my past career will ever and anon flit
across my fancy, and obtrude themselves upon my consciousness. Your
father--yes! I feel that I have not been to him what nature intended,
and what he deserved.'

'O Arundel!' she said, with streaming eyes, 'he loves you like a son.
Yet, yet be one!'

He seated himself on the sofa by her side, and took her small hand and
bathed it with his k