and anything in the wide world," she said, impulsively.

"You are making very sure that my wife will not like you," I said. "What
if I have no wife?"

She shook her head gravely.

"You will marry, Sir Edgar. All the Trevelyans of Crown Anstey marry,
as becomes the head of a grand old family. You will marry, and your wife
will be the happiest woman in the world."

"I may be a modern Bluebeard, Coralie."

"No; you will not. Ah, me! To go away and leave Crown Anstey--to leave
you--I shall feel like Eve driven forth from Paradise to die."

My hand lay carelessly on the back of a chair. She bent down swiftly and
laid her burning lips upon it. I would not tell--my face flames as I
write the word--but unless you know all, reader, you will not understand
my story.

She laid her warm, soft lips upon it! And though I did not love her--did
not even trust her--the magnetic touch thrilled every nerve. I took my
hand away.

"Ah, cousin!" she said, looking at me with those dark, dangerous eyes,
"you love even your dog Hector better than me."

She was so near to me that the perfume from her flowers reached me. It
was by a desperate effort I broke the spell.