_mesalliance_ to marry me,
I, on the other hand, should not be proud of an alliance with you.
Why, Philip, my ancestors were princes of royal blood when yours still
herded the swine in these woods. I can show more than thirty
quarterings upon my shield, each the mark of a noble house, and I will
not be the first to put a bar sinister across them. Now, I have spoken
plainly, indelicately perhaps, and there is only one more word to be
said between us, and that word is _good-bye_," and she held out her
hand.

He did not seem to see it; indeed, he had scarcely heard the latter
part of what she said. Presently he lifted his face, and it bore
traces of a dreadful inward struggle. It was deadly pale, and great
black rings had painted themselves beneath the troubled eyes.

"Hilda," he said, hoarsely, "don't go; I cannot bear to let you go. I
will marry you."

"Think of what you are saying, Philip, and do not be rash. I do not
wish to entrap you into marriage. You love money. Remember that Maria,
with all her possessions, asks nothing better than to become your
wife, and that I have absolutely nothing but my name and my good
looks. Look at me," and she stepped out into a patch of moonlight that
found its way between the trees, and, drawing the filmy shawl she wore
from her head and bare neck and bosom, stood before him in all the
brightness of her beauty, shaded as it was, and made more lovely by
the shadows of the night.

"Examine me very carefully," she went on, with bitter sarcasm, "look
into my features and study my form and carriage, or you may be
disappointed with your bargain, and complain that you have not got
your money's worth. Remember, too, that an accident, an illness, and
at the best the passage of a few years, may quite spoil my value as a
beautiful woman, and reflect, before I take you at your word."

Philip had sat or rather crouched himself down upon the log of a tree
that lay outside the summer-house, and covered his face with his hand,
as though her loveliness was more than he could bear to look upon.
Now, however, he raised his eyes and let them dwell upon her scornful
features.

"I had rather," he said slowly--"I had rather lose my life than lose
you; I love you so that I would buy you at the price even of my
honour. When will you marry me?"

"What, have you made up your mind so quickly? Are you sure? Then,"--
and here she changed her whole tone and bearing, and passionately
stretched out her arm