he exclaimed, "we part
not--Alice, we part not. If I am to leave my native land, you shall
be my companion in my exile. What have you to lose?--Whom have you to
abandon?--Your father?--The good old cause, as it is termed, is dearer
to him than a thousand daughters; and setting him aside, what tie is
there between you and this barren isle--between my Alice and any spot of
the British dominions, where her Julian does not sit by her?"

"O Julian," answered the maiden, "why make my duty more painful by
visionary projects, which you ought not to name, or I to listen to? Your
parents--my father--it cannot be!"

"Fear not for my parents, Alice," replied Julian, and pressing close
to his companion's side, he ventured to throw his arm around her; "they
love me, and they will soon learn to love, in Alice, the only being on
earth who could have rendered their son happy. And for your own father,
when State and Church intrigues allow him to bestow a thought upon you,
will he not think that your happiness, your security, is better cared
for when you are my wife, than were you to continue under the mercenary
charge of yonder foolish woman? What could his pride desire better
for you, than the establishment which will one day be mine? Come then,
Alice, and since you condemn me to banishment--since you deny me a share
in those stirring achievements which are about to agitate England--come!
do you--for you only can--do you reconcile me to exile and inaction, and
give happiness to one, who, for your sake, is willing to resign honour."

"It cannot--it cannot be," said Alice, faltering as she uttered her
negative. "And yet," she said, "how many in my place--left alone and
unprotected, as I am--But I must not--I must not--for your sake, Julian,
I must not."

"Say not for my sake you must not, Alice," said Peveril eagerly; "this
is adding insult to cruelty. If you will do aught for my sake, you will
say yes; or you will suffer this dear head to drop on my shoulder--the
slightest sign--the moving of an eyelid, shall signify consent. All
shall be prepared within an hour; within another the priest shall
unite us; and within a third, we leave the isle behind us, and seek our
fortunes on the continent." But while he spoke, in joyful anticipation
of the consent which he implored, Alice found means to collect together
her resolution, which, staggered by the eagerness of her lover,
the impulse of her own affections, and the singularity of her
sit