"Young man, sir!--I feel it very difficult to understand you, uncle! In
respect to Edith and myself, sir, I have but to say that we have
discovered that we are something more than cousins to each other!"

"Indeed! And how long is it, I pray, since you have made this
discovery?"

This was said with a dry tone, and hard, contemptuous manner. The youth
strove honestly to keep down his blood.

"Within the hour, sir! Not that we have not always felt that we loved
each other, uncle; only, that, up to this time, we had never been
conscious of the true nature of our feelings."

The youth replied with the most provoking simplicity. The uncle was
annoyed. He would rather that Ralph should have relieved him, by a
conjecture of his own, from the necessity of hinting to him that such
extreme sympathies, between the parties, were by no means a matter of
course. But the nephew would not, or could not, see; and his surprise,
at the uncle's course, was perpetually looking for explanation. It
became necessary to speak plainly.

"And with what reason, Ralph Colleton, do you suppose that I will
sanction an alliance between you and my daughter? Upon what, I pray you,
do you ground your pretensions to the hand of Edith Colleton?"

Such was the haughty interrogation. Ralph was confounded.

"My pretensions, sir?--The hand of Edith!--Do I hear you right, uncle?
Do you really mean what you say?"