"And you are not cross?" she whispered.

"Not with you, my poor child; always trust me, Marion. I love you better
than any one else in the world could love you. I am afraid even that I
love your faults."

"Do you know that I promised to marry him?" she asked.

"Yes, I know all about it. Thank God you were not deluded into carrying
out the promise. It was all a plot, my darling, between that wretched
man and his sister. They knew you had money and they wanted it. I must
not reproach you, but I wish you had told me before we were married--you
should not have suffered so terribly."

"Shall you love me just as much as you did before?" she asked, after a
short pause.

"I may safely say that I shall love you a thousand times better, Marion.
You see, I have found out in this short space of time that I could not
live without you."

She was not long in recovering after that. As soon as it was possible to
move her, Lord Atherton took her to Hanton, and there she speedily
regained health and strength.

When she was quite well, Lord Atherton had one more conversation with
her on this matter.

"You were so very young," he said, "and the brother and sister seem both