rt, if such a heart be worth
possessing, is yours. I can never forget who solaced me in my misery; I
can never forget all your delicate tenderness, Digby. Would that I
could make a return to you more worthy of all your goodness; but if the
grateful devotion of my life can repay you, you shall be satisfied.'

He took her hand and pressed it to his lips. 'It is of you, and of your
happiness that I can alone think,' he murmured.

'Now let me tell you all,' said Henrietta, with desperate firmness. 'I
have done this person great injustice.'

'Hah!' said Lord Montfort.

'It cuts me to the heart,' said Henrietta.

'You have then misconceived his conduct?' enquired Lord Montfort.

'Utterly.'

'It is indeed a terrible situation for you,' said Lord Montfort; 'for
all of us,' he added, in a lower tone.

'No, Digby; not for all of us; not even for myself; for if you are happy
I will be. But for him, yes! I will not conceal it from you, I feel for
him.'

'Your destiny is in your own hands, Henrietta.'

'No, no, Digby; do not say so,' exclaimed Miss Temple, very earnestly;
'do not speak in that tone of sacrifice. There is no need of sacrifice;
there shall be none. I will not, I do not falter. Be you firm. Do not
desert me in this moment of trial. It is for support I speak; it is for
consolation. We are bound together by ties the purest, the holiest. Who
shall sever them? No! Digby, we will be happy; but I am interested in
the destiny of this unhappy person. You, you can assist me in rendering
it more serene; in making him, perhaps, not less happy than ourselves.'

'I would spare no labour,' said Lord Montfort.

'Oh, that you would not!' exclaimed Miss Temple. 'You are so good,
so noble! You would sympathise even with him. What other man in your
situation would?'

'What can be done?'

'Listen: he was engaged to his cousin even on that fatal day when we
first met; a lady with every charm and advantage that one would think
could make a man happy; young, noble, and beautiful; of a most amiable
and generous disposition, as her subsequent conduct has proved; and of
great wealth.'

'Miss Grandison?' said Lord Montfort.

'Yes: his parents looked forward to their union with delight, not
altogether unmixed with anxiety.

The Armines, with all their princely possessions, are greatly
embarrassed from the conduct of the last head of their house. Ferdinand
himself has, I grieve to say, inherited too much of his grandfather's