ight have become suspicious at the eagerness with
which these wretches, driven by necessity, carried on their intrigue.
Six weeks after their first meeting, Malgat fancied that Sarah was
wildly in love with him. It was absurd, most assuredly; it was foolish,
insane. Nevertheless, he believed it. He thought those rapturous glances
were genuine; he believed in the truthfulness of that intoxicating
sweetness of her voice, and those enchanting blushes, which his coming
never failed to call forth.

"Now began the second act of the hideous comedy. Mrs. Brian appeared one
day, all of a sudden, to notice something, and promptly requested Malgat
never to put foot again within that house. She accused him of an attempt
to seduce Sarah Brandon. I dare say, you can imagine, the fool! how he
protested, affirming the purity of his intentions, and swearing that he
would be the happiest of mortals if they would condescend to grant him
the hand of her niece. But Sir Thorn, in the haughtiest tone possible,
asked him how he could dare think of such a thing, and presume that
he could ever be a fit match for a young lady who had a dower of two
hundred thousand dollars.

"Malgat left with tottering steps, despair in his heart, and resolved to
kill himself. When he returned home, he actually went to look among his
curiosities for an old flint-lock pistol, and began to load it.

"Ah! why did he not kill himself then? He would have carried his
deceptive illusions and his unstained honor with him to the grave.

"He was just about to make his will when they brought him a letter from
Sarah. She wrote thus:--

"'When a girl like myself loves, she loves for life, and she is his
whom she loves, or she is nobody's. If your love is true, if dangers and
difficulties terrify you no more than they terrify me, knock to-morrow
night, at ten o'clock, at the gate of the court. I will open.'

"Mad with joy and hope, Malgat went to the fatal meeting. Do you know
what happened? Sarah fell around his neck, and said,--

"'I love you. Let us run away.'

"Ah! if he had taken her at her word, and answered her, offering her his
arm,--

"'Yes, let us flee,' the plot might have been defeated, and he might
have been saved; for she would certainly not have gone with him.

"But with that clear perception which was a perfect marvel in her, and
looked like the gift of second sight, she had taken the measure of the
cashier, and exposed herself to the danger, well-kn