the best grace I could. I
therefore seated myself by Miss Saville on the sofa, and whispered, "You
must promise me one thing more, Clara, dearest--say that you will
love me--give me but that right to watch over you--to protect you, and
believe me neither Cumberland, nor any other villain, shall dare for the
future to molest you".

As she made no answer, but remained with her eyes fixed on the ground,
while the tears stole slowly down her cheeks, I continued--"You own that
you are unhappy--that you have none to love you--none on whom you can
rely;--do not then reject the tender, the devoted affection of one who
would live but to protect you from the slightest breath of sorrow--would
gladly die, if, by so doing, he could secure your happiness".

"Oh! hush, hush!" she replied, starting, as if for the first time aware
of the tenor of my words; "you know not what you ask; or even you, kind,
noble, generous as you are, would not seek to link your fate with one
so utterly wretched, so marked out for misfortune as myself. Stay,"
she continued, seeing that I was about to speak, "hear me out. Richard
Cumberland, the man whom you despise, and whom I hate only less than
I fear, that man have I promised to marry, and, ere this, he is on his
road hither to claim the fulfilment of the engagement."

"Promised to marry Cumberland!" repeated I mechanically, "a low,
dissipated swindler--a common cheat, for I can call him nothing better;
oh, it's impossible!--why, Mr. Vernor, your guardian, would never permit
it."

"My _guardian_!" she replied, in a tone of the most cutting irony: "were
it not for him this engagement would never have been formed; were it
not for him I should even now hope to find some means of prevailing upon
this man to relinquish it, and set me free. Richard Cumberland is Mr.
Vernor's nephew, and the dearest wish of his heart is to see us united."

"He never shall see it while I live to prevent it!" ~283~~ replied I,
springing to my feet, and pacing the room with angry strides.

"Oh, it was all plain to me now! when I had fancied her guardian's
features were not unfamiliar to me, it was his likeness to Cumberland
which had deceived me; his rudeness on the night of the ball; the
strange dislike he appeared to feel towards me;--all was now accounted
for. His opinion of me, formed from Cumberland's report, was not likely
to be a very favourable one; and this precious uncle and nephew were
linked in a scheme to destroy