it is a lie between man and man--a
lie to your friend and father, and I will not forgive it."

Rushbrook stood silent, confused, alarmed, and bewildered in his
thoughts. Lord Elmwood proceeded:

"Name the person, if there is any, on whom you have bestowed your heart;
and though I do not give you the hope that I shall not censure your
folly, I will at least not reproach you for having at first denied it."

To repeat these words in writing, the reader must condemn the young man
that he could hesitate to own he loved, if he was even afraid to name
the object of his passion; but his interrogator had made the two answers
inseparable, so that all evasions of the second, Rushbrook knew would be
fruitless, after having avowed the first--and how could he confess the
latter? The absolute orders he received from the steward on his first
return from his travels, were, "Never to mention his daughter, any more
than his late wife, before Lord Elmwood." The fault of having rudely
intruded into Lady Matilda's presence, rushed also upon his mind; for he
did not even dare to say, by what means he had beheld her. But more than
all, the threatening manner in which this rational and apparently
conciliating speech was uttered, the menaces, the severity which sat
upon the Earl's countenance while he delivered those moderate words,
might have intimidated a man wholly independent, and less used to fear
than his nephew had been.

"You make no answer, Sir," said Lord Elmwood, after waiting a few
moments for his reply.

"I have only to say, my Lord," returned Rushbrook, "that although my
heart may be totally disengaged, I may yet be disinclined to marriage."

"May! May! Your heart _may_ be disengaged," repeated he. "Do you dare to
reply to me equivocally, when I have asked a positive answer?"

"Perhaps I am not positive myself, my Lord; but I will enquire into the
state of my mind, and make you acquainted with it very soon."

As the angry demeanour of his uncle affected Rushbrook with fear, so
that fear, powerfully (but with proper manliness) expressed, again
softened the displeasure of Lord Elmwood; and seeing and pitying his
nephew's sensibility, he now changed his austere voice, and said mildly,
but firmly,

"I give you a week to consult with yourself; at the expiration of that
time I shall talk with you again, and I command you to be then prepared
to speak, not only without deceit, but without hesitation." He left the
room at these w