ed Florence; "leave me, in mercy leave me!"

"Not till you bid me rise," said Ernest, in emotion scarcely less deep
than hers, as he sank on his knee at her feet.

Need I go on?--When they left that spot, a soft confession had been
made--deep vows interchanged, and Ernest Maltravers was the accepted
suitor of Florence Lascelles.

CHAPTER III.

"A hundred fathers would in my situation tell you that, as
you are of noble extraction, you should marry a nobleman.
But I do not say so. I will not sacrifice my child to any
prejudice."
KOTZEBUE. _Lover's Vows_.

"Take heed, my lord; the welfare of us all
Hangs on the cutting short that fraudful man."
SHAKSPEARE. _Henry VI._

"Oh, how this spring of love resembleth
Th' uncertain glory of an April day;
Which now shows all the beauty of the sun,
And by and by a cloud takes all away!"
SHAKSPEARE. _The Two Gentlemen of Verona_.

WHEN Maltravers was once more in his solitary apartment, he felt as in
a dream. He had obeyed an impulse, irresistible, perhaps, but one with
which the _conscience of his heart_ was not satisfied. A voice whispered
to him, "Thou hast deceived her and thyself--thou dost not love her!"
In vain he recalled her beauty, her grace, her genius--her singular and
enthusiastic passion for himself--the voice still replied, "Thou dost
not love. Bid farewell for ever to thy fond dreams of a life more
blessed than that of mortals. From the stormy sea of the future are
blotted out eternally for thee--Calypso and her Golden Isle. Thou canst
no more paint on the dim canvas of thy desires the form of her with
whom thou couldst dwell for ever. Thou hast been unfaithful to thine own
ideal--thou hast given thyself for ever and for ever to another--thou
hast renounced hope--thou must live as in a prison, with a being with
whom thou hast not the harmony of love."

"No matter," said Maltravers, almost alarmed, and starting from these
thoughts, "I am betrothed to one who loves me--it is folly and dishonour
to repent and to repine. I have gone through the best years of youth
without finding the Egeria with whom the cavern would be sweeter than
a throne. Why live to the grave a vain and visionary Nympholept? Out of
the real world could I have made a nobler choice?"

While Maltravers thus communed with himself, Lady Florence passed into
her father's dressing-room, and there awaited his return from London.
She knew his worldly vi