lf to be safe. Nevertheless he
was very unhappy. Of what service would his child be to him or he
to her, if he were doomed to see her pining from day to day with an
unpermitted love? It was the dearest wish of his heart to make her
happy, as it was his fondest ambition to see her so placed in the
world that she might be the happy transmitter of all the honours
of the house of Humblethwaite,--if she could not transmit all the
honours of the name. Time might help him. And then if she could be
made really to see how base was the clay of which had been made this
image which she believed to be of gold, might it not be that at last
she would hate a thing that was so vile? In order that she might do
so, he would persist in finding out what had been the circumstances
of this young man's life. If, as he believed, the things which George
Hotspur had done were such as in another rank of life would send the
perpetrator to the treadmill, surely then she would not cling to her
lover. It would not be in her nature to prefer that which was foul
and abominable and despised of all men. It was after this, when he
had seen Mr. Boltby, that the idea occurred to him of buying up
Cousin George, so that Cousin George should himself abandon his
engagement.

"You had better go now, my dear," he said, after his last speech. "I
fully rely upon the promise you have made me. I know that I can rely
upon it. And you also may rely upon me. I give you my word as your
father that this man is unfit to be your husband, and that I should
commit a sin greater than I can describe to you were I to give my
sanction to such a marriage."

Emily made no answer to this, but left the room without having once
leaned upon her father's shoulder.

That look of hers troubled him sadly when he was alone. What was to
be the meaning of it, and what the result? She had given him almost
unasked the only promise which duty required her to give, but at the
same time she had assured him by her countenance, as well as by her
words, that she would be as faithful to her lover as she was prepared
to be obedient to her father. And then if there should come a long
contest of that nature, and if he should see her devoted year after
year to a love which she would not even try to cast off from her, how
would he be able to bear it? He, too, was firm, but he knew himself
to be as tender-hearted as he was obstinate. It would be more than
he could bear. All the world would be nothing for