Edith Colleton to
me; and worthless, and vile, and reckless, though I have become, for you
I can hold no thought which would behold you other than you are--a
creature for worship rather than for love. As such I would have you
still; and for this purpose do I seek you now. I know your feeling for
this young man--I saw it then, when you repulsed me. I saw that you
loved each other, though neither of you were conscious of the truth. You
love him now--you would not have him perish--I know well how you regard
him, and I come, knowing this, to make hard conditions with you for his
life."

"Keep me no longer in suspense--speak out, Mr. Creighton"--she cried,
gaspingly.

"Rivers--Rivers--I would not hear the other--it was by that name I was
driven from my fellows."

"Mr. Rivers, say what can be done--what am I to do--money--thanks, all
that we can give shall be yours, so that you save him from this fate."

"And who would speak thus for me? What fair pleader, fearless of man's
opinion--that blights or blesses, without reference to right or
merit--would so far speak for me!"

"Many--many, Mr. Rivers--I hope there are many. Heaven knows, though I
may have rejected in my younger days, your attentions, I know not many
for whom I would more willingly plead and pray than yourself. I do
remember now your talents and high reputation, and deeply do I regret
the unhappy fortune which has denied them their fulfilment."

"Ah, Edith Colleton, these words would have saved me once--now they are
nothing, in recompense for the hopes which are for ever gone. Your
thoughts are gentle, and may sooth all spirits but my own. But sounds
that lull others, lull me no longer. It is not the music of a rich
dream, or of a pleasant fancy, which may beguile me into pleasure. I am
dead--dead as the cold rock--to their influence. The storm which
blighted me has seared, and ate into the very core. I am like the tree
through which the worm has travelled--it still stands, and there is
foliage upon it, but the heart is eaten out and gone. Your words touch
me no longer as they did--I need something more than words and mere
flatteries--flatteries so sweet even as those which come from your
lips--are no longer powerful to bind me to your service. I can save the
youth--I will save him, though I hate him; but the conditions are fatal
to your love for him."

There was much in this speech to offend and annoy the hearer; but she
steeled herself to listen, and it