ardian, who loves me like a
daughter," began May. But the other broke in,--

"Oh! there are scores of things one can do in life to oblige one's
friends, but marriage is not one of them. And then, bethink you, May,
how little you have seen of the world; and surely there is a wider
choice before you than between a wearied lounger on half-pay and a poor
tutor."

"Yes; a poor tutor if you will, but of a name and family the equal of my
own," said May, hastily, and with a dash of temper in the words.

"Who says so? Who has told you that?"

"He himself. He told me that though there were some painful
circumstances in his family history he would rather not enter upon,
that, in point of station, he yielded to none in the rank of untitled
gentry. He spoke of his father as a man of the very highest powers."

"Did he tell you what station he occupied at this moment?"

"No. And do you know it?"

"Yes," said Mrs. Morris, gravely.

"Will you not tell me, Lucy?" asked May, eagerly.

"No; there is not any reason that I should. You have just said, 'What
is Mr. Layton to me, or I to him?' and in the face of such a confession
why should I disparage him?"

"So, then, the confession would disparage him?"

"It might."

"This reserve is not very generous towards me, I must say," said the
girl, passionately.

"It is from generosity to you that I maintain it," said the other,
coldly.

"But if I were to tell you that the knowledge interests me deeply; that
by it I may possibly be guided in a most eventful decision?"

"Oh, if you mean to say, 'Alfred Layton has asked me to marry him,
and my reply depends upon what I may learn about his family and their
station '--"

"No, no; I have not said that," burst in May.

"Not said, only implied it. Still, if it be what you desire me to
entertain, I will have no concealments from you."

"I cannot buy your secret by a false pretence, Loo; there is no such
compact as this between Layton and myself. Alfred asked me--"

"Alfred!" said Mrs. Morris, repeating the name after her, and with
such a significance as sent all the color to the girl's cheek and
forehead,--"Alfred! And what did Alfred ask you?"

"I scarcely know what I am saying," cried May, as she covered her face
with her hands.

"Poor child!" cried Mrs. Morris, tenderly, "I can find my way into your
heart without your breaking it. Do not cry, dearest. I know as well all
that he said as if I had overheard him saying it! The wor