ou blush,
you weep! Oh, tell me, by one word, one look, that I was not deceived!"

"No, no, Clarence," said Flora, struggling with her tears: "it is
too late, too late now! Why, why did I not know this before? I have
promised, I am pledged; in less than two months I shall be the wife of
another!"

"Never!" cried Clarence, "never! You promised on a false belief: they
will not bind you to such a promise. Who is he that claims you? I am
his equal in birth, in the world's name,--and oh, by what worlds
his superior in love! I will advance my claim to you in his very
teeth,--nay, I will not stir from these domains till you, your father,
and my rival, have repaired my wrongs."

"Be it so, sir!" cried a voice behind, and Clarence turned and beheld
Lord Ulswater! His dark countenance was flushed with rage, which he in
vain endeavoured to conceal; and the smile of scorn that he strove
to summon to his lip made a ghastly and unnatural contrast with the
lowering of his brow and the fire of his eyes. "Be it so, sir," he said,
slowly advancing, and confronting Clarence. "You will dispute my claims
to the hand Lady Flora Ardenne has long promised to one who, however
unworthy of the gift, knows, at least, how to defend it. It is well; let
us finish the dispute elsewhere. It is not the first time we shall have
met, if not as rivals, as foes."

Clarence turned from him without reply, for he saw Lady Westborough had
just entered the pavilion, and stood mute and transfixed at the door,
with surprise, fear, and anger depicted upon her regal and beautiful
countenance.

"It is to you, madam," said Clarence, approaching towards her, "that I
venture to appeal. Your daughter and I, four long years ago, exchanged
our vows: you flattered me with the hope that those vows were not
displeasing to you; since then a misunderstanding, deadly to my
happiness and to hers, divided us. I come now to explain it. My birth
may have seemed obscure; I come to clear it: my conduct doubtful; I come
to vindicate it. I find Lord Ulswater my rival. I am willing to compare
my pretensions to his. I acknowledge that he has titles which I have
not; that he has wealth, to which mine is but competence: but titles and
wealth, as the means of happiness, are to be referred to your daughter,
to none else. You have only, in an alliance with me, to consider my
character and my lineage: the latter flows from blood as pure as that
which warms the veins of my rival; the forme