, "_save me--save me_, Rupert!"

"_Save_ you! dearest, beloved Mildred--tell me--tell me quick--this
marriage--is it not your own choice?"

"O no, no, no!" sobbed Mildred.

"Then no power on earth shall compel you to it! You are mine--mine,
dearest Mildred!" and clasping her once more in his arms, Rupert
kissed the tears from her beautiful eyes, as full of hope and love
they met his beaming gaze.

"But my grandfather!" she cried, starting up.

"He is here, dear girl."

"Here! then lead me to him quickly--let me implore him to have pity
upon me!"

The arrival of Mr. Dundass upon the scene was wholly unlooked for by
Mr. Donaldson--need we say as wholly unwelcome. Guilt and fear paled
his cheek and almost palsied his tongue as his lips feigned a
welcome--nor was Perozzi less moved. To define the feelings of Mrs.
Donaldson would be difficult. Her love for her daughter had been held
in complete subjugation to the will of her husband, and while she
grieved deeply for the sorrows heaped upon her, her love and fear of
Mr. Donaldson, and her knowledge of his pecuniary distress caused her
at the same time to exert all her influence to rivet the chain around
poor Mildred--so strange is human nature! What then was to be the
result of her father's unexpected visit--was it freedom for
Mildred--was it to heap disgrace upon her husband?

In the mean time Mr. Dundass had been shown to a private room in a
remote wing of the building, while Mr. Donaldson and Perozzi were
already planning new schemes. They resolved that Mildred should be
kept in ignorance of her grandfather's arrival as long as possible--of
Rupert's they themselves knew nothing--and that on no account should
she be allowed to speak with him privately. The marriage should take
place at an early hour the following morning--_that_ consummated they
would defy even the devil himself!

Mr. Dundass was sitting sad and sorrowful in the apartment to which he
had been conducted, for this marriage filled him with grief, wondering
that Mildred did not appear to welcome him, or that Rupert did not
return, when the door suddenly opened and Mildred rushed in, and
falling at his feet exclaimed:

"O dearest, dearest grandfather, pity me--O sacrifice me not to
Perozzi!"

"Sacrifice you, my darling child! Come to my arms--what mean
you--_sacrifice_--I thought it was your happiness I was securing by
consenting to your union."

"_Happiness!_ O grandfather--rather my misery!"