Need I go on?--When they left that spot, a soft confession had been
made--deep vows interchanged, and Ernest Maltravers was the accepted
suitor of Florence Lascelles.



CHAPTER III.

"A hundred fathers would in my situation tell you that, as
you are of noble extraction, you should marry a nobleman.
But I do not say so. I will not sacrifice my child to any
prejudice."
KOTZEBUE. /Lover's Vows/.

"Take heed, my lord; the welfare of us all
Hangs on the cutting short that fraudful man."
SHAKSPEARE. /Henry VI./

"Oh, how this spring of love resembleth
Th' uncertain glory of an April day;
Which now shows all the beauty of the sun,
And by and by a cloud takes all away!"
SHAKSPEARE. /The Two Gentlemen of Verona/.

WHEN Maltravers was once more in his solitary apartment, he felt as in a
dream. He had obeyed an impulse, irresistible, perhaps, but one with
which the /conscience of his heart/ was not satisfied. A voice
whispered to him, "Thou hast deceived her and thyself--thou dost not
love her!" In vain he recalled her beauty, her grace, her genius--her
singular and enthusiastic passion for himself--the voice still replied,