by the highest of all laws, the laws of nature and of God? How, then, can
you talk of not making me legally yours, in the sight of men?"

"I will, I tell you, if you will do as I wish in the present instance.
Come, be kind, be gentle and loving, as you ever have been, and we will
soon be completely happy by acknowledging our love before men, at the
altar."

"This again! Oh, tempter, betray me not!"

"You have your choice. I will _never_ marry you if you refuse my present
offer, NEVER! Whose, then, will be the shame? Which will you be, an
honorable wife, or a despised offcast? Your destiny is in your own hands,
make your election."

"Oh, God! I am in your power!"

"Then you consent?"

"What assurance have I that this promise will make me your wife? Have you
not promised the same thing scores of times?"

"Require any form of obligation, and I will give it; as I mean what I say,
make your own conditions."

"Give me a written promise."

He gave it as she dictated it:

"I hereby promise to marry Eliza Fleming within one month from this 12th
day of April, 1786. This promise I most solemnly give, calling on heaven to
witness it, and if I fail in its performance, may the curses of God rest
upon my soul in this world and in the world to come.

"LOUIS DURANT."

"That will do," she said.

"And I may depend on you?"

"Yes; I am no longer free. But mind, all must be done quietly and kept a
profound secret."

"Leave that to me; I will be responsible for the result."

Thus was a net woven for an unsuspecting victim. Who was she, and what the
cause for this unrelenting and revengeful feeling on the part of Durant?
Time must show.

CHAPTER II.

A VILLAIN UNMASKED.

In a beautiful district of the "Old Dominion," bordering on the
Rappahannock, there lived, just previous to the time of the opening of our
story, a planter, who had once been wealthy, but whose princely fortune had
become much reduced by indiscriminate kindness. Possessed of a noble heart,
a generous disposition, and the finest sympathies, he could never find it
in his heart to say "no" to an application for assistance. Thousands had
thus gone to pay debts of security; and, at last, he resolved to move to
the West, as a means of retrieving his affairs, as well as to cut loose
from the associations which were rapidly diminishing the remains of his
wealth.

This planter, whom we shall call General Walton, (the last name assumed,
the title o