u, and
you have converted a friend into a foe. It is I, however,' he
fiercely added, 'who must suffer the penalty of your disobedience and
duplicity, and either die in a prison, or become an exile from my
country. I prefer the latter, and must leave you to reap the fruits
of your own self-will.'

'Oh, my father!' Amy almost wildly exclaimed, throwing herself at his
feet, 'had you given me time I should have explained everything to
you connected with my visit to Mrs Lyddiard; but I entreat you not to
add to the dishonour you are already involved in by flight. Surely
the debts you have contracted are not to so large an amount but they
may be liquidated in time by our mutual exertions. Let us descend to
the sphere from which we have so lately risen, if by that means we
can honourably overcome our difficulties.'

'Talk not to me in this manner,' Beaufort angrily interposed: 'I will
not brook the disgrace your obstinacy has brought upon me; and you
have yourself alone to blame that you are not the mistress of a
princely fortune. Go to your beggarly lover, if he will receive you
when penniless and homeless--the tie between _us_ is broken,' And
with these words he rose to quit the room.

'Do not leave me, father !' Amy shrieked forth, clinging around him
to prevent his departure. 'I will share a prison with you, if such he
the dreadful alternative. I will labour for your support; but do
not--do not leave me.'

Beaufort shook her from him with a violence which threw her to the
ground. 'Go, wretched girl!' he vociferated as he descended the
stairs; 'you have been _my_ ruin.' It was the last words he
addressed to her--they met no more.

Scarcely allowing herself to believe that her father would not repent
of his determination to leave the country, Amy awaited with intense
anxiety the event of the evening. The shades of twilight fell, but
he appeared not. The guests he had invited arrived; still he did not
return. She was obliged to send an apology for her absence; for she
was really ill, and felt unequal to the trial of meeting the baronet
in her present agitated state of mind.

The morning brought a confirmation of her worst fears. A rumour of
Beaufort's sudden flight had gone abroad, owing to his absence from
his guests; and the consequence was, that creditors poured in from
all quarters. Amy met the emergency with a presence of mind she was
herself surprised at. Her first care was to have all the effects
sold, that th