d;
but she felt, that in doing so, she would be going too far. It was
useless for her to say anything that would be utterly contradicted by
an appeal to Mary herself.

"No, Frank; I do not mean to say that you do not love her. What
I do mean is this: that it is not becoming in you to give up
everything--not only yourself, but all your family--for such a love
as this; and that she, Mary herself, acknowledges this. Every one is
of the same opinion. Ask your father: I need not say that he would
agree with you about everything if he could. I will not say the de
Courcys."

"Oh, the de Courcys!"

"Yes, they are my relations; I know that." Lady Arabella could not
quite drop the tone of bitterness which was natural to her in saying
this. "But ask your sisters; ask Mr Oriel, whom you esteem so much;
ask your friend Harry Baker."

Frank sat silent for a moment or two while his mother, with a look
almost of agony, gazed into his face. "I will ask no one," at last he
said.

"Oh, my boy! my boy!"

"No one but myself can know my own heart."

"And you will sacrifice all to such a love as that, all; her, also,
whom you say that you so love? What happiness can you give her as
your wife? Oh, Frank! is that the only answer you will make your
mother on her knees?

"Oh, mother! mother!"

"No, Frank, I will not let you ruin yourself; I will not let you
destroy yourself. Promise this, at least, that you will think of what
I have said."

"Think of it! I do think of it."

"Ah, but think of it in earnest. You will be absent now in London;
you will have the business of the estate to manage; you will have
heavy cares upon your hands. Think of it as a man, and not as a boy."

"I will see her to-morrow before I go."

"No, Frank, no; grant me that trifle, at any rate. Think upon this
without seeing her. Do not proclaim yourself so weak that you cannot
trust yourself to think over what your mother says to you without
asking her leave. Though you be in love, do not be childish with it.
What I have told you as coming from her is true, word for word; if it
were not, you would soon learn so. Think now of what I have said, and
of what she says, and when you come back from London, then you can
decide."

To so much Frank consented after some further parley; namely, that he
would proceed to London on the following Monday morning without again
seeing Mary. And in the meantime, she was waiting with sore heart for
his answer to that letter