opposite to his own. This boded nothing
agreeable. I sat down, however, silently
waiting until he should open the conversation.

'Lady Margaret,' at length he said, in a
tone of greater sternness than I thought
him capable of using, 'I have hitherto
spoken to you as a friend, but I have not
forgotten that I am also your guardian,
and that my authority as such gives me a
right to control your conduct. I shall
put a question to you, and I expect and
will demand a plain, direct answer. Have
I rightly been informed that you have con-
temptuously rejected the suit and hand of
my son Edward?'

I stammered forth with a good deal of
trepidation:

'I believe--that is, I have, sir, rejected
my cousin's proposals; and my coldness
and discouragement might have
convinced him that I had determined to
do so.'

'Madam,' replied he, with suppressed,
but, as it appeared to me, intense anger,
'I have lived long enough to know that
COLDNESS and discouragement, and such