certainly
recoil disastrously."

"Thank you, Uncle Mitchell. Please act promptly. I have set my heart of
hearts on having that poor young woman here to spend Christmas. Her
freedom to walk about in the sunshine, is the one Christmas gift I
covet; and I know you will gratify me if possible. You have only four
days in which to secure my present."

"When do you expect to see Dunbar?"

"I promised to ride with him this afternoon; but I prefer not to
discuss this subject, as he has earnestly requested me 'to abstain from
any reference to that gloomy business during his hours of recreation;'
and I have no intention of setting black care en croupe to share our
canter to-day. Having told me that when he leaves his office to visit
us, he locks his professional affairs in his desk, you can readily
understand that good taste enforces respect for his wishes, at least in
the matter of avoiding tabooed topics."

"Does it occur to you that he will object very strenuously to seeing
the personification of 'that gloomy business' sitting at your
hearth-stone? That he may refuse to lock up in his law office the
significant and disagreeable reflection, that the woman whom he
arrested find prosecutes for a vile crime, is championed and housed by
one whom he claims as his promised wife? Dunbar has a keen eye for the
'eternal fitness of things,' and, where you are concerned, is a jealous
stickler for social convenance. I warn you he will be bitterly
offended, if you bring General Darrington's granddaughter under this
roof."

Her delicate flower-like face flushed; and the slight figure became
proudly erect.

"It is my house, and I acquit him of the presumption of desiring to
dictate to whom its doors shall be opened. If he has no confidence in
my discretion, no respect for my motives, no tolerance for difference
of opinion in a matter of vital importance, then the sooner our
engagement is annulled the better for both of us. When I have taken my
vows, I hope I shall steadfastly keep them, but meantime I am still a
Gordon. The irrevocable ubi tu Caius, ego Caia, has not yet been
uttered, and while it would grieve me very much to wound his feelings,
I claim the exercise of my own judgment. I am not indifferent to his
wishes; on the contrary, I ardently desire, as far as is consistent
with my self-respect, to defer to them; but when I pledged him my
faith, I did not surrender my will, nor obliterate my individuality."

Judge Dent rose, pu