this, no, no, I will not.
Nigel, I will rest with thee. Speak not, answer not; give us one short
moment, and then--oh, all the ills may be averted by one brief word--and
I, oh, can I speak it?" She paused in fearful agitation, and every limb
shook as if she must have fallen; the blood rushed up to cheek, and
brow, and neck, as, fixing her beautiful eyes on Nigel's face, she said,
in a low yet thrilling voice, "Let the voice of heaven hallow the vows
we have so often spoken, Nigel. Give me a right, a sacred right to bear
thy name, to be thine own, at the altar's foot, by the holy abbot's
blessing. Let us pledge our troth, and then let what will come, no man
can part us. I am thine, only thine!"

Without waiting for a reply, she buried her face in his bosom, and Nigel
could feel her heart throb as if 'twould burst its bounds, her frame
quiver as if the torrent of blood, checked and stayed to give strength
for the effort, now rushed back with such overwhelming force through its
varied channels as to threaten life itself.

"Agnes, my own noble, self-devoted love! oh, how may I answer thee?" he
cried, tears of strong emotion coursing down his cheek--tears, and the
warrior felt no shame. "How have I been deserving of love like this--how
may I repay it? how bless thee for such words? Mine own, mine own! this
would indeed guard thee from the most dreaded ills; yet how may I link
that self-devoted heart to one whose thread of life is well-nigh spun?
how may I make thee mine, when a few brief weeks of misery and horror
must part us, and on earth, forever?"

"No, no; thou knowest not all a wife may do, my Nigel," she said, as she
raised her head from his bosom, and faintly smiled, though her frame
still shook; "how she may plead even with a tyrant, and find mercy; or
if this fail, how she may open iron gates and break through bonds, till
freedom may be found. Oh, no, we shall not wed to part, beloved; but
live and yet be happy, doubt it not; and then, oh, then forget the words
that joined us, made us one, had birth from other lips than thine;--thou
wilt forget, forgive this, Nigel?"

"Forget--forgive! that to thy pure, unselfish soul I owe the bliss which
e'en at this hour I feel," he answered, passionately kissing the
beautiful brow upturned to his; "forget words that have proved--had I
needed proof--how purely, nobly, faithfully I am beloved; how utterly,
how wholly thou hast forgotten all of self for me! No, no! were thy
wo