do not betray me to her. It was during your imprisonment, the night
before your release, that I was awakened by her coming to my bedside. She
was sobbing as if her heart would break. 'O mother, mother!' she cried,
'pity me, help me! I am so wretched.' 'What is the matter, darling?' 'I
have been so cruel to Allen, and I know I shall be so again. I cannot
help it. Do not question me; only if we are separated, if he cast me off,
or I reject him, tell him some day perhaps when I am in my grave--not to
believe appearances; and that I, in my heart of hearts, never ceased to
love him!'"

"She said that! You are not deceiving me?"

"Oh, no! how can you think so?"

"There is hope still," I murmured; and I bowed my head upon my hands, hot
tears forcing their way through the clasped fingers.

"One word more," said I; "you tell me that Lilian has a repugnance to this
Margrave, and yet that she found comfort in his visits,--a comfort that
could not be wholly ascribed to cheering words he might say about myself,
since it is all but certain that I was not, at that time, uppermost in her
mind. Can you explain this apparent contradiction?"

"I cannot, otherwise than by a conjecture which you would ridicule."

"I can ridicule nothing now. What is your conjecture?"

"I know how much you disbelieve in the stories one hears of animal
magnetism and electro-biology, otherwise--"