"will you answer me one question?"

Mrs. Willoughby hesitated for a moment, but now perceived that Dacres
was really speaking to her. "He's in delirium," she thought. "Poor
fellow, I must humor him, I suppose. But what a funny name to give
me!"

So, after a little preparatory cough, Mrs. Willoughby said, in a low
voice,

"What question?"

Dacres was silent for a few moments. He was overcome by his emotions.
He wished to ask her one question--the question of all questions in
his mind. Already her acts had answered it sufficiently; but he longed
to have the answer in her own words. Yet he hesitated to ask it. It
was dishonor to her to ask it. And thus, between longing and
hesitation, he delayed so long that Mrs. Willoughby imagined that he
had fallen back into his dreams or into his delirium, and would say no
more.

But at last Dacres staked every thing on the issue, and asked it:

"Arethusa! oh, Arethusa! do you--do you love--the--the Italian?"

"The Italian!" said Mrs. Willoughby--"love the Italian! me!" and then
in a moment she thought that this was his delirium, and she must humor
it. "Poor fellow!" she sighed again; "how he fought them! and no doubt
he has had fearful blows on his head."

"Do you? do you? Oh, answer, I implore you!" cried Dacres.

"No!" said Mrs. Willoughby, solemnly. "I hate him as I never hated man
before." She spoke her mind this time, although she thought the other
was delirious.

A sigh of relief and of happiness came from Dacres, so deep that it
was almost a groan.

"And oh," he continued, "tell me this--have you ever loved him at
all?"

"I always disliked him excessively," said Mrs. Willoughby, in the same
low and solemn tone. "I saw something bad--altogether bad--in his
face."

"Oh, may Heaven forever bless you for that word!" exclaimed Dacres,
with such a depth of fervor that Mrs. Willoughby was surprised. She
now believed that he was intermingling dreams with realities, and
tried to lead him to sense by reminding him of the truth.

"It was Minnie, you know, that he was fond of."

"What! Minnie Fay?"

"Yes; oh yes. I never saw any thing of him."

"Oh, Heavens!" cried Dacres; "oh, Heavens, what a fool, beast,
villain, and scoundrel I have been! Oh, how I have misjudged _you_!
And can _you_ forgive me? Oh, can you? But no--you can not."

At this appeal Mrs. Willoughby was startled, and did not know what to
say or to do. How much of this was delirium and how much real