ave not come here for three days."

"I was busy--disagreeable things occurred at home--I had no opportunity.
But it is better as it is--we must now part, and I hope you will forget
me"----

"Forget you! That is impossible. But I shall try to find methods of
enduring the separation."

"I trust you will--I did not mean to part from you in unkindness: your
voice is altered--your eyes are changed"----

"Because I am Edgar Ravenswood no longer; nor you Lucy Ashton. You made
me know, for the first time in my life, what it was to have a true and
absorbing attachment. I worshipped you with the fervour of a boy--I
loved you with the sincerity of a man. You played me off for the
gratification of your paltry triumph over affections that were too
valuable to be wasted on a flirt. I have heard of the assize ball--I
have heard of young Jeeks--I have unmasked you, and you are Betsy
Juffles."

A glance--bright and sparkling, but instantly subdued--appeared for a
moment in her eyes, which now swam in tears.

"Be it so, then. If I were to stay longer in this part of the world, I
might perhaps try to set myself right in your eyes; but as it is"----she
paused, and sighed.

"You go then soon?"

"I go to-morrow."

There could no longer be a doubt. Mr Dobble had told me the Juffleses
removed on Saturday. I saw what a consummate actress I was opposed to,
and hardened my heart more and more. We had come by this time to the
gate into the field; I held it open for her as she passed, but said not
a word: I then rushed back to the place we had so often met, threw
myself on the ground, and cursed Poggses, Jeekses, and Juffleses, with
as much earnest devotion as my father himself could have required.

But in the midst of all these maledictions rose up every now and then a
doubt--was she Betsy Juffles?--was she a flirt?--had she ogled young
Jeeks?--had she made a fool of me?--or was she indeed the bright pure
captivating Lucy Ashton I had known, the clever, the warm-hearted, the
good? Oh, if she was, and I had cast her off, and made myself a cold
iron-hearted brute, at the whisper of a wretch like Jeeks! I made a vow
that, if I found he had deceived me, I would finish the sacrifice
commenced on Monday, and tear him limb from limb. That night and many
nights--a month, a quarter of a year--passed in earnest consultations
with my father. I read, but no longer the Waverley Novels: I attended to
the farm--I was busy--useful; I felt I could get