l dare to bid us wed
another. It will be too solemn a pledge to be lightly broken. Men
think gravely of such matters as solemn betrothal, and in days to
come if they should urge upon thee or me to wed with another, we
have but to tell of what was done this day, and they will cease to
strive to come between us more.

"O sweetest mistress, fairest Kate, let us not part today without
some pledge of mutual faith and constancy! Let me hold this little
hand and place my token on thy finger; then be the time of waiting
never so long, I shall know that at last I may call thee mine
before all the world!"

Kate was quivering, blushing, trembling with excitement, though not
with fear; for she loved Culverhouse too completely to feel aught
but the most perfect confidence in him and his honour and faith.

"If only I could be sure it was not wrong!" she faltered.

"Wrong to plight thy hand, when thy heart is long since given?" he
asked, with tender playfulness. "Where can the wrong be there?"

"I know not. I would fain be altogether thine. But what would my
father and mother say?"

It was plain already that she was yielding. Culverhouse drew her
tenderly towards him.

"Nay, sweet coz, there be times when the claim of the parent must
give place to the closer claim of the lover, the husband. Does not
Scripture itself tell us as much? Trust me, I speak for our best
good. Let us but go together before this priest and speak the words
that, said in church, would make us man and wife, and none will
dare to keep us apart for ever, or bid us wed with another. Such
words must be binding upon the soul, be the legal bond little or
much. It is hard to say what the force of such a pledge may be; but
well I know that neither my father nor thine would dare to try to
break it, once they were told how and when it had been made. Thou
wilt be mine for ever, Kate, an thou wilt do this thing."

The temptation was too great to be resisted. To plight her troth
thus to Culverhouse, in a fashion which might not be wholly ignored
or set aside, was a thing but too congenial to the daring and
ardent temperament of the girl. With but a few more quivers of
hesitation she let herself be persuaded; and Culverhouse, turning
round with a radiant smile of triumph, saw that Cuthbert was
standing beside them, sympathy and interest written upon his face.

"Thou wilt be witness to our espousals, good cousin," he said
gaily, as he led his betrothed to the porch,