'Do not reproach me,' she said.

'No;--no. Why should I reproach you? You have committed no fault. I
should not have come had I intended to reproach any one.'

'I love you so much for saying that.'

'Let it be as you wish it,--if it must. I have made up my mind to bear
it, and there shall be an end of it.' As he said this he took her by
the hand, and she put her head upon his shoulder and began to weep.
'And still you will be all the world to me,' he continued, with his
arm round her waist. 'As you will not be my wife, you shall be my
daughter.'

'I will be your sister, Roger.'

'My daughter rather. You shall be all that I have in the world. I will
hurry to grow old that I may feel for you as the old feel for the
young. And if you have a child, Hetta, he must be my child.' As he
thus spoke her tears were renewed. 'I have planned it all out in my
mind, dear. There! If there be anything that I can do to add to your
happiness, I will do it. You must believe this of me,--that to make
you happy shall be the only enjoyment of my life.'

It had been hardly possible for her to tell him as yet that the man to
whom he was thus consenting to surrender her had not even condescended
to answer the letter in which she had told him to come back to her.
And now, sobbing as she was, overcome by the tenderness of her
cousin's affection, anxious to express her intense gratitude, she did
not know how first to mention the name of Paul Montague. 'Have you
seen him?' she said in a whisper.

'Seen whom?'

'Mr Montague.'

'No;--why should I have seen him? It is not for his sake that I am
here.'

'But you will be his friend?'

'Your husband shall certainly be my friend;--or, if not, the fault
shall not be mine. It shall all be forgotten, Hetta,--as nearly as such
things may be forgotten. But I had nothing to say to him till I had
seen you.' At that moment the door was opened and Lady Carbury entered
the room, and, after her greeting with her cousin, looked first at her
daughter and then at Roger. 'I have come up,' said he, 'to signify my
adhesion to this marriage.' Lady Carbury's face fell very low. 'I need
not speak again of what were my own wishes. I have learned at last
that it could not have been so.'

'Why should you say so?' exclaimed Lady Carbury.

'Pray, pray, mamma--,' Hetta began, but was unable to find words with
which to go on with her prayer.

'I do not know that it need be so at all,' continued Lady Carbury. '