d the forbearance of his brother; he knew his high
and brave nature too well to imagine that it arose from fear. Might it
not be contempt, or might he not, at this moment, intend to seek their
father; and, the first to proclaim his love for the orphan, advance,
also, the privilege of the elder born? As these suspicions flashed
across him, the haughty Otho strode to his brother's side, and laying
his hand on his arm, said,--

"Whither goest thou; and dost thou consent to surrender Leoline?"

"Does she love thee, Otho?" answered Warbeck, breaking silence at last;
and his voice spoke so deep an anguish, that it arrested the passions of
Otho even at their height.

"It is thou who art now silent," continued Warbeck; "speak. Doth she
love thee, and has her lip confessed it?"

"I have believed that she loved me," faltered Otho; "but she is of
maiden bearing, and her lip, at least, has never told it."

"Enough," said Warbeck; "release your hold."

"Stay," said Otho, his suspicions returning; "stay,--yet one word; dost
thou seek my father? He ever honoured thee more than me: wilt thou own
to him thy love, and insist on thy right of birth? By my soul and my
hope of heaven, do it, and one of us two must fall!"

"Poor boy!" answered Warbeck, bitterly; "how little thou canst read the
heart of one who loves truly! Thinkest thou I would wed her if she loved
thee? Thinkest thou I could, even to be blessed myself, give her one
moment's pain? Out on the thought! away!"

"Then wilt not thou seek our father?" said Otho, abashed.

"Our father!--has our father the keeping of Leoline's affection?"
answered Warbeck; and shaking off his brother's grasp, he sought the way
to the castle.

As he entered the hall, he heard the voice of Leoline; she was singing
to the old chief one of the simple ballads of the time that the warrior
and the hunter loved to hear. He paused lest he should break the spell
(a spell stronger than a sorcerer's to him), and gazing upon Leoline's
beautiful form, his heart sank within him. His brother and himself
had each that day, as they sat in the gardens, given her a flower; his
flower was the fresher and the rarer; his he saw not, but she wore his
brother's in her bosom!

The chief, lulled by the music and wearied with the toils of the chase,
sank into sleep as the song ended, and Warbeck, coming forward, motioned
to Leoline to follow him. He passed into a retired and solitary walk,
and when they were a litt