hear you!"

"Your strength is not likely to fail you," he retorted, with a
sneer; "for your courage and your eloquence seem always equal
to the task of braving and insulting me: when you hear what I
have now to tell, perhaps you will regret the harshness of
your language."

He paused for a moment, and then, in a more natural tone of
voice, he said, "A few months after the occurrences which I
related to you just now, I went to Elmsley. You know as well
as I do in what way we spent that summer. You were grown into
a woman: but you were still a child, a child in spirits, and
in careless gaiety; and I scarcely thought of you but as such.
I hardly was conscious of my own feelings, till I was
enlightened as to their nature by the increasing dislike and
repugnance with which I turned from the idea of my engagement
to Alice. One day, to my great surprise, my sister told me
that Mrs. Tracy had been with her to consult her as to her
future abode; and, to my inexpressible annoyance, she also
informed me that she had offered her the cottage at Bridman,
and that she had readily accepted it. From the moment that I
heard this, I was in continual dread of a meeting, that might
bring to light our relative positions; for I still had a vague
hope that something or other might occur to prevent the
accomplishment of this hateful marriage. I wrote to Mrs.
Tracy, to urge her, in the strongest manner, not to come to
Bridman, a step which, I assured her, would answer to none of
the parties. She instantly conceived the idea that I had
fallen in love with you; and she wrote me letters full of the
most violent reproaches and upbraidings; and, a short time
after, having come alone to Bridman, to inspect the
arrangement of the cottage, she walked over to Elmsley, and
made her way to my room, unobserved, as it turned out, by any
one in or about the house, with the exception of my own
servant. _That_ day," continued Henry in a hurried and nervous
manner, "was the 15th of July. You know my room at
Elmsley--the window was open--we heard voices and footsteps on
the verandah--we looked out--I need not tell you what we
saw--dreadful words burst from Tracy's lips--"

"O God! O God!" I exclaimed, as Henry paused in the excess of
his agitation, "O God of mercy, my punishment is greater than
I can bear!"

Henry went on--"I know not what inspired me to act as I did. I
locked the door of the room inside, and, springing from the
window on to the veranda