what I looked for in you--that you should rank yourself with my poor
boy's enemies!"

"I, his enemy!" The word was a sharp cry--not loud, but telling of
unfathomed deeps of anguish, from the verge of which the listener
drew back with a shudder. "I would have married him without a single
glance at the past! Let him but say 'it is untrue--all that you
fear and they declare,' and I would disbelieve this tale, instantly
and utterly, though a thousand witnesses swore to the truth of it.
Or, let him be all that they say, I would marry him to-night, if I
had the right to do it. But I promised--and to promise with an
Aylett is to fulfil--that I would be ruled by my guardian's will,
should the investigation, to which Frederic himself did not object,
terminate unfavorably for my hopes, and contrary to his
declaration."

"It was a rash promise, and such are better broken than kept."

"Your Bible, Aunt Rachel--to-night, I cannot call it mine!--commends
him who swears to his own heart and changes not," replied the niece,
with restored steadiness. "It would have been the same had I refused
my consent to Winston's proposal. I am a minor, and who would wait
two years for me?"

"Anybody who loved you, provided your trust in him equalled his in
you," said Mrs. Sutton, slyly.

Mabel's answer was direct.

"You want me to say that I do not believe this tale of Mr. Chilton's