ill it stay away. Do you think I have
not tried that? Do you believe that for a man it can be pleasant to
be rebuffed;--that for one who up to this day has always walked on,
triumphant over every obstacle, who has conquered every nay that
has obstructed his path, it can have less of bitterness than the
bitterness of death to encounter a no from the lips of a woman?"

"A poor woman's no should be nothing to you, Mr. Emilius."

"It is everything to me,--death, destruction, annihilation,--unless
I can overcome it. Darling of my heart, queen of my soul, empress
presiding over the very spirit of my being, say,--shall I overcome it
now?"

She had never been made love to after this fashion before. She
knew, or half knew, that the man was a scheming hypocrite, craving
her money, and following her in the hour of her troubles, because
he might then have the best chance of success. She had no belief
whatever in his love; and yet she liked it, and approved his
proceedings. She liked lies, thinking them to be more beautiful than
truth. To lie readily and cleverly, recklessly and yet successfully,
was, according to the lessons which she had learned, a necessity in
woman and an added grace in man. There was that wretched Macnulty,
who would never lie; and what was the result? She was unfit even for
the poor condition of life which she pretended to fill. When poor
Macnulty had heard that Mr. Emilius was coming to the castle, and had
not even mentioned her name, and again, when he had been announced on
this very morning, the unfortunate woman had been unable to control
her absurd disappointment. "Mr. Emilius," Lizzie said, throwing
herself back upon her couch, "you press me very hard."

"I would press you harder still to gain the glory I covet." And he
made a motion with his arms as though he had already got her tight
within his grasp.

"You take advantage of my illness."

"In attacking a fortress do not the besiegers take all advantages?
Dear Lady Eustace, allow me to return to London with the right of
protecting your name at this moment, in which the false and the
thoughtless are attacking it. You need a defender now."

"I can defend myself, sir, from all attacks. I do not know that any
one can hurt me."

"God forbid that you should be hurt. Heaven forbid that even the
winds of heaven should blow too harshly on my beloved. But my beloved
is subject to the malice of the world. My beloved is a flower all
beautiful within and