ettle in London (THAT
she had quite determined long ago); be able to go out into the streets
all alone, to shop, or visit; have a gentleman all her own, whom she
could put her finger on any moment and make him take her about, even to
the opera and the theatre; to give dinner-parties her own self, and even
a little ball once in a way; to buy whatever dresses she thought proper,
instead of being crippled by an allowance; have the legal right of
speaking first in society, even to gentlemen rich in ideas but bad
starters, instead of sitting mumchance and mock-modest; to be Mistress,
instead of Miss--contemptible title; to be a woman, instead of a girl;
and all this rational liberty, domestic power, and social dignity were
to be obtained by merely wedding a dear fellow, who loved her, and was
so nice; and the bright career to be ushered in with several delights,
each of them dear to a girl's very soul: presents from all her friends;
as many beautiful new dresses as if she was changing her body or her
hemisphere, instead of her name; eclat; going to church, which is a
good English girl's theatre of display and temple of vanity, and there
tasting delightful publicity and whispered admiration, in a heavenly
long veil, which she could not wear even once if she remained single.

This bright variegated picture of holy wedlock, and its essential
features, as revealed to young ladies by feminine tradition, though not
enumerated in the Book of Common Prayer writ by grim males, so entranced
her, that time flew by unheeded, and Christopher Staines came back from
her father. His step was heavy; he looked pale, and deeply distressed;
then stood like a statue, and did not come close to her, but cast a
piteous look, and gasped out one word, that seemed almost to choke
him,--"REFUSED!"

Miss Lusignan rose from her chair, and looked almost wildly at him with
her great eyes. "Refused?" said she, faintly.

"Yes," said he, sadly. "Your father is a man of business; and he took
a mere business view of our love: he asked me directly what provision
I could make for his daughter and her children. Well, I told him I had
three thousand pounds in the Funds, and a good profession; and then I
said I had youth, health, and love, boundless love, the love that can
do, or suffer, the love that can conquer the world."

"Dear Christopher! And what COULD he say to all that?"

"He ignored it entirely. There! I'll give you his very words. He said,
'In that c