ocke, and ready when, at my legal majority, he shall claim
me--to redeem my plighted faith by becoming his wife."

"Clara, this is madness! It must not be endured, nor shall not! I have
hitherto sought to win your hand by showing you the great extent of my
love; but be careful how you scorn that love or continue to taunt me
with the mention of an unworthy rival. For, though I use gentle means,
should I find them fail of their purpose, I shall know how to avail
myself of harsher ones."

Clara disdained reply, except by permitting her clear eye to pass over
him from head to foot with an expression of consuming scorn that
scathed him to the quick.

"I tell you to be careful, Clara Day! I come to you armed with the
authority of your legal guardian, my father, Colonel Le Noir, who will
forestall your foolish purpose of throwing yourself and your fortune
away upon a beggar, even though to do so he strain his authority and
coerce you into taking a more suitable companion," said Craven Le Noir,
rising impatiently and pacing the floor. But no sooner had he spoken
these words than he saw how greatly he had injured his cause and
repented them. Going to Clara and intercepting her as she was about to
leave the room, he gently took her hand and, dropping his eyes to the
floor with a look of humility and penitence, he said:

"Clara, my sweet cousin, I know not how sufficiently to express my
sorrow at having been hurried into harshness toward you--toward you
whom I love more than my own soul, and whom it is the fondest wish of
my heart to call wife. I can only excuse myself for this or any future
extravagance of manner by my excessive love for you and the jealousy
that maddens my brain at the bare mention of my rival. That is it,
sweet girl. Can you forgive one whom love and jealousy have hurried
into frenzy?"

"Mr. Le Noir, the Bible enjoins me to forgive injuries. I shall
endeavor, when I can, to forgive you, though for the present my heart
is still burning under the sense of wrongs done toward myself and those
whom I love and esteem, and the only way in which you can make me
forget what has just passed will be--never to repeat the offence." And
with these words Clara bent her head and passed from the room.

Could she have seen the malignant scowl and gesture with which Craven
Le Noir followed her departure, she would scarcely have trusted his
expressions of penitence.

Lifting his arm above his head he fiercely shook his fis