was dead to honour, and therefore her birthright to a heritage of honour
was irrevocably forfeited. And since you compel me to speak rudely,
while in you I revere a man above the power of law to degrade--while,
could we pass a generation, and Sophy were your child by your Lizzy, I
should proudly welcome an alliance that made you and me as brothers--yet
I cannot contemplate--it is beyond my power--I cannot contemplate the
picture of Jasper Losely's daughter, even by my own child, the Mistress
in my father's home--the bearer of my father's name. 'Tis in vain to
argue. Grant me the slave of a prejudice--grant these ideas to be
antiquated bigotry--I am too old to change. I ask from others no
sacrifice which I have not borne. And whatever be Lionel's grief at my
resolve, grief will be my companion long after he has forgotten that he
mourned."




CHAPTER IX.

POOR SOPHY!

The next morning Mills, in giving Sophy a letter from Lady Montfort, gave
her also one for Waife, and she recognised Lionel Haughton's handwriting
on the address. She went straight to Waife's sitting-room, for the old
man had now resumed his early habits, and was up and dressed. She placed
the letter in his hands without a word, and stood by his side while he
opened it, with a certain still firmness in the expression of her face,
as if she were making up her mind to some great effort. The letter was
ostensibly one of congratulation. Lionel had seen Darrell the day
before, after the latter had left the Home Secretary's office, and had