nd her dark eyes fairly shot fire; he quailed under the
scathing rebuke of those orbs, as he had often done before, but was
chagrined that he had been unable to draw a single word from her lips, and
mentally resolving to bring her to the speaking point, he proceeded:

"But sorry and indignant as he was at _your_ conduct, he was far more
deeply exasperated at Hadley."

"Hadley!" repeated she, in the first moment of surprise.

"Yes; that very loving letter he addressed to you fell into your parent's
hands, together with another one from the same writer, directed to himself
wherein Hadley asks forgiveness for himself, and especially for you, fair
lady, whom he represents to be in deep distress, that love irresistibly
draws you to him and away from home."

"Villain!" ejaculated Eveline, with flashing eye.

"Be careful of your words, my dear; you are not now in your father's
house, and it may not suit my purpose to allow you the use of such
epithets, as applied to myself."

With this remark, Eveline at once turned to her book and commenced reading
again, as much as to say:--"Have the conversation all to yourself, then!"
and the miscreant so understood and interpreted the act, and felt that he
was outgeneraled by the superior tactics of his opponent, notwithstanding
the immense advantage he was master of in the contest.

"Nay, fair lady," he said, "I did not intend to cut you off from the
privilege of speech, but only to advise you to be a little careful in the
use of terms and epithets."

"Sir, if after forcing a conversation upon me on your own terms, and at an
advantage of your own choosing, you are too cowardly to hear what I please
to say, you must talk to yourself. When I speak at all I select my own
words. I do not belong to that class of contemptible poltroons, who slink
behind others to hide themselves and their crimes, basely exposing the
innocent to the censures and punishment that should fall upon their own
guilty heads. No, sir; woman as I am I would scorn to stoop to such a low
depth of infamy to screen myself from any position, even from death itself;
and if you, with all this littleness of mind and cringing cowardice of
soul, expect to intimidate me by any menaces, all I have to say is, you
have 'reckoned without your host.' And permit me to tell you that there are
no words in any language half adequate to express my contempt of you as a
man, or my abhorrence of your acts as a criminal, of whom, thus fa