ore we close our bargain. It might so happen--it is
far from unlikely--that the circumstances of which I dare not trust
myself to utter a syllable may come to your ears when I am your wife,
when it will be impossible for you to treat them as calumnies, and just
as idle to say that you never heard of them before. How will you act if
such a moment comes?"

"Answer me one plain question first. Is there any man living who has
power over you--except as regards these letters, I mean?"

"None."

"There is, then, no charge of this, that, or t' other?"

"I will answer no more. I have told you fairly that if you take me for
your wife you most be prepared to stand in the breach between me and the
world, and meet whatever assails me as one prepared. Are you ready for
this?"

"I'm not afraid of the danger--"

"So, then, your fears are only for the cause?"

It was with the very faintest touch of scorn these words were spoken;
but he marked it, and reddened over face and forehead.

"When that cause will have become my own, you 'll see that I 'll
hesitate little about defending it."

"That's all that I ask for, all that I wish. This is strange courtship,"
said she, trying to laugh; "but let us carry it through consistently. I
conclude you are not rich; neither am I,--at least, for the present; a
very few weeks, however, will put me in possession of a large property.
It is in land in America. The legal formalities which are necessary will
be completed almost immediately, and my co-heir is now coming over
from the States to meet me, and establish his claim also. These are all
confidences, remember, for I now speak to you freely; and, in the same
spirit that I make them, I ask _you_ to trust me,--to trust me fully and
wholly, with a faith that says, 'I will wait to the end--to the very end!
'"

"Let this be my pledge," said he, taking her hand and kissing it.
"Faith!" said he, after a second or two, "I can scarcely believe in my
good luck. It seems to be every moment so like a dream to think that
you consent to take me; just, too, when I was beginning to feel that
fortune had clean forgotten me. You are not listening to me, not minding
a word I say. What is it, then, you are thinking of?"

"I was plotting," said she, gravely.

"Plotting,--more plotting! Why can't we go along now on the high-road,
without looking for by-paths?"

"Not yet,--not yet awhile. Attend to me, now. It is not likely that we
can meet again very soon