ld not believe that you could have doubted me. It was a mistake,'
he added, in a tone of great bitterness.

Miss Temple again covered her face as she said, 'I cannot recall the
past: I wish not to dwell on it. I desire only to express to you the
interest I take in your welfare, my hope that you may yet be happy. Yes!
you can be happy, Ferdinand; Ferdinand, for my sake you will be happy.'

'O Henrietta, if Henrietta I indeed may call you, this is worse than
that death I curse myself for having escaped.'

'No, Ferdinand, say not that. Exert yourself, only exert yourself,
bear up against irresistible fate. Your cousin, everyone says she is so
amiable; surely------'

'Farewell, madam, I thank you for your counsel.'

'No, Ferdinand, you shall not go, you shall not go in anger. Pardon me,
pity me, I spoke for your sake, I spoke for the best.'

'I, at least, will never be false,' said Ferdinand with energy. 'It
shall not be said of me that I broke vows consecrated by the finest
emotions of our nature. No, no, I have had my dream; it was but a dream:
but while I live, I will live upon its sweet memory.'

'Ah! Ferdinand, why were you not frank; why did you conceal your
situation from me?'

'No explanation of mine can change our respective situations,' said
Ferdinand; 'I content myself therefore by saying that it was not Miss
Temple who had occasion to criticise my conduct.'

'You are bitter.'

'The lady whom I injured, pardoned me. She is the most generous, the
most amiable of her sex; if only in gratitude for all her surpassing
goodness, I would never affect to offer her a heart which never can
be hers. Katherine is indeed more than woman. Amid my many and almost
unparalleled sorrows, one of my keenest pangs is the recollection that
I should have clouded the life, even for a moment, of that admirable
person. Alas! alas! that in all my misery the only woman who sympathises
with my wretchedness is the woman I have injured. And so delicate
as well as so generous! She would not even enquire the name of the
individual who had occasioned our mutual desolation.'

'Would that she knew all,' murmured Henrietta; 'would that I knew her.'

'Your acquaintance could not influence affairs. My very affection for my
cousin, the complete appreciation which I now possess of her character,
before so little estimated and so feebly comprehended by me, is the very
circumstance that, with my feelings, would prevent our union. She may,
I