nd me. Spoken words are soon
forgotten,--

"I shall never forget his words," Grace said to herself as she read
this;--

and are not always as plain as they might be. Dear Grace,
I suppose I ought not to say so, but I fancied when I
parted from you at Allington, that I had succeeded in
making myself dear to you. I believe you to be so true in
spirit, that you were unable to conceal from me the fact
that you love me. I shall believe that this is so, till I
am deliberately and solemnly assured by yourself that it
is not so;--and I conjure you to think what is due both to
yourself and to myself, before you allow yourself to think
of making such an assurance unless it be strictly true.

I have already told my friends that I have asked you to be
my wife. I tell you this, in order that you may know how
little effect your answer to me has had towards inducing
me to give you up. What you said about your father and
your family has no weight with me, and ought ultimately
to have none with you. This business of your father's
is a great misfortune,--so great that, probably, had we
not known each other before it happened, it might have
prevented our becoming intimate when we chanced to meet.
But we had met before it happened, and before it happened
I had determined to ask you to be my wife. What should
I have to think of myself if I allowed my heart to be
altered by such a cause as that?

I have only further to say that I love you better than any
one in the world, and that it is my best hope that you
will be my wife. I will not press you till this affair of
your father's has been settled; but when that is over, I
shall look for my reward without reference to its result.
Not that I doubt the result if there be anything like
justice in England; but that your debt to me, if you owe
me any debt, will be altogether irrespective of that. If,
as I suppose, you will remain at Allington for some time
longer, I shall not see you till after the trial is over.
As soon as that is done, I will come to you wherever you
are. In the meantime I shall look for an answer to this;
and if it be true that you love me, dear, dear Grace, pray
have the courage to tell me so.

Most affectionately your own,

HENRY GRANTLY.

When the letter was given to Grace across the breakfast-table, both
Mrs. Dale and Lily suspected that