e paused;
then, as she made no reply, but sat with her face buried in her hands,
sobbing as if her heart would break, he continued, "You tell me, the
vile tempter who has lured you from your duty promised to meet you here
to-day, and, bringing a clergyman with him, to marry you privately; now
if this is the truth----"

"It is, it is," she faltered.

"If so," resumed Oaklands, "a knowledge of the real facts of the case
may yet save you. This scoundrel who has promised to marry you, and who
belongs to a rank immeasurably above your own, is already notorious for
what are termed, by such as himself, affairs of gallantry; while the
wretched impostor whom he has brought with him to act the part of
clergyman is the marker at a low billiard-table, and no more a clergyman
than I am."

"Is this really so?" exclaimed the girl, raising her eyes, which
were swollen and red with weeping, to Wilford's face; "would you have
deceived me thus, Stephen--you, whom I have trusted so implicitly?"

Wilford, who, since the severe discipline he had undergone, had remained
seated, with his head resting on his hand, as if in pain, apparently
unconscious of what was going on, glared at her ferociously with his
flashing eyes, but made no reply. The girl waited for a minute; but,
obtaining no answer, turned away with a half shudder, murmuring,
"Deceived, deceived!" Then addressing Oaklands, she said, "I will go
home to my father, sir; and if he will not forgive me, I can but lie
down and die at his feet--better so than live on, to trust, and be
deceived again".

"You have decided rightly, and will not repent it," remarked Oaklands
in a milder tone of voice; then, turning to the blacksmith (who had
made his appearance, accompanied by his wife, the moment the affray had
ended), he continued: "you must procure some conveyance immediately to
take this young person back to Cambridge, and your wife must accompany
her". ~192~~Observing that the man hesitated, and cast an inquiring
glance towards Wilford, he added sternly, "If you would not be compelled
to answer for the share you have taken in this rascally business before
the proper authorities, do as I have told you without loss of time".

The man having again failed in an attempt to attract Wilford's
attention, asked in a surly tone, "Whether a spring-cart would do?" and,
being answered in the affirmative, left the room.

Lizzie Maurice withdrew to prepare for her return home, the woman
accompa