er for many years; and what I wished to say, respects both her
happiness and my own."

"I must understand you," said Bridgenorth, "even as carnal men
understand each other on the matters of this world. You are attached to
my daughter by the cords of love; I have long known this."

"You, Master Bridgenorth?" exclaimed Peveril--"_You_ have long known
it?"

"Yes, young man. Think you, that as the father of an only child, I could
have suffered Alice Bridgenorth--the only living pledge of her who is
now an angel in heaven--to have remained in this seclusion without the
surest knowledge of all her material actions? I have, in person, seen
more, both of her and of you, than you could be aware of; and
when absent in the body, I had the means of maintaining the same
superintendence. Young man, they say that such love as you entertain for
my daughter teaches much subtilty; but believe not that it can overreach
the affection which a widowed father bears to an only child."

"If," said Julian, his heart beating thick and joyfully, "if you have
known this intercourse so long, may I not hope that it has not met your
disapprobation?"

The Major paused for an instant, and then answered, "In some respects,
certainly not. Had it done so--had there seemed aught on your side, or
on my daughter's, to have rendered your visits here dangerous to her,
or displeasing to me, she had not been long the inhabitant of this
solitude, or of this island. But be not so hasty as to presume, that
all which you may desire in this matter can be either easily or speedily
accomplished."

"I foresee, indeed, difficulties," answered Julian; "but with your
kind acquiescence, they are such as I trust to remove. My father is
generous--my mother is candid and liberal. They loved you once; I trust
they will love you again. I will be the mediator betwixt you--peace and
harmony shall once more inhabit our neighbourhood, and----"

Bridgenorth interrupted him with a grim smile; for such it seemed, as it
passed over a face of deep melancholy. "My daughter well said, but short
while past, that you were a dreamer of dreams--an architect of plans and
hopes fantastic as the visions of the night. It is a great thing you
ask of me;--the hand of my only child--the sum of my worldly substance,
though that is but dross in comparison. You ask the key of the only
fountain from which I may yet hope to drink one pleasant draught; you
ask to be the sole and absolute keeper of m