she had argued. If she could
make any one else happy, she might as well do it as not. Jacob was
very good. He would be kind to her and patient with her, whilst her
aunt Susan would be just the reverse. Life under such conditions,
beneath that unsympathetic rule, would be well-nigh unendurable. It
would be better for her own sake to wed Jacob and escape from it
all. And when the promise had been given, it seemed so little
likely that she would be called upon to fulfil it! Even now she
scarcely contemplated it seriously, for her heart was filled with
hope. Was she herself not going towards the forest and Cuthbert?
Surely she would hear somewhat of him there!

"I shall ask none other woman to be my wife until I know that thou
canst never be mine, Cherry," answered Jacob, with gentle
obstinacy. "I shall never wish aught of ill to Cuthbert. Thou
knowest that I would stand betwixt him and peril an I might. But
till he stands at thy side and claims thee as his own, I will not
give thee up. I can bide my time--I can wait and watch."

She looked at him with suddenly dilating eyes, as though a qualm of
fear had smitten her.

"But, Jacob, if he were to come hither when I be gone, thou wouldst
not hinder him from finding me; thou wouldst not do him any ill
turn that we might be kept apart? That would not be fair; it would
be an ill thing. It would be--"

She stopped suddenly short, for Jacob had risen, and seemed to
stand towering above her, with something majestic in his air that
she had certainly never observed there before.

"Cherry! for what dost thou take me?" he asked, his voice quivering
with an emotion that showed him to be deeply moved. "Hast thou so
vile an opinion of the man thou mayest some day call thy husband,
the man who bears the name of thy dead mother, that thou canst
think such evil thoughts of him? No, Cherry, I will not hinder him
from finding thee. I will in no wise stand between you. I will aid
him with all that is in my power to find thee. If peril should
menace him and I could stand betwixt him and it, I would do so
gladly. I would lay down my life for him, if by so doing thou and
he might one day be happy. Dost think that I prize my life so high,
since I may not win the crown that would make its happiness? If I
may not live for thee, Cherry, methinks I would sooner die for
thee, if by so doing I might win thee happiness and love. I love
thee and I love Cuthbert. I ask nothing better than that I may