Ask not why; 'tis
sufficient that I have willed it. Shouldst thou not obey, I
renounce thee for ever.

"This shall be the test of thy fidelity.

KATHERINE."

He kissed the writing again and again; he skipped round the chamber
like unto one demented; and when the old housekeeper, who was in a
sore ill-temper at being deprived of her accustomed allowance of rest,
came in to know his intentions about supper, he bade her go dream of
love and give supper to the hogs.

The morning found Anthony early at his studies. A letter, painfully
elaborated, was despatched in due form "To Master Roger Anderton,
these;" and the lover began to ruminate on his good fortune. The terms
were hard, to be sure, and the time was long; but women, and other
like superior intelligences, will not bear to be thwarted; at least,
so thought Master Anthony Hardcastle, as he threw his taper legs over
the opposite chair, screwing his forbearance to the test.

The same day an answer was received, briefly as follows:--

"Though thy person and qualifications be unknown to me, yet
have I not been ignorant of the respect and esteem which thy
father enjoyed. Shouldst thou win my daughter's favour, thou
shall not lack my consent, if thou art as deserving as he whose
substance thou hast inherited."

Leaving to Anthony the irksome task of minuting down the roll of time
for one unlucky month, turn we to another personage with whom it is
high time the reader should be acquainted. At Turton Tower, a few
miles distant, dwelt a cavalier of high birth, whose pedigree was
somewhat longer than his rent-roll. To this proud patrician Kate's
father had long borne a bitter grudge, arising out of some sporting
quarrel, and omitted no opportunity by which to manifest his
resentment. Dying recently, he had left an only son, then upon his
travels, heir to the inheritance and the feud with Anderton.

Shortly after his return, Kate, being on a visit in the neighbourhood,
saw him; and as nothing is more likely to excite love than the
beholding of some forbidden object, unwittingly, in the first
instance, she began to sigh; and with each sigh came such a warm gush
of feeling from the heart as did not fail to create a crowd of
sensations altogether new and unaccountable. On his part the feeling
was not less ardent, though less inexplicable, at least to himself,
and a few more glances fixed them desperately and unalterably in love