e no more than she will
have. I told you, the first time you came to us after that terrible
night, that we should always regard you as one of ourselves. We
have done so; and I can assure you that her mother and I desire
nothing better for her.

"For your sake, I am glad that you have come into this Scottish
estate; but for my own I care nothing for it, and indeed, am in one
respect sorry; for you will naturally wish that, for a part of the
time each year, she should reside there with you.

"Now, that has not been so dreadful, has it?"

"Not in any way, count; and I thank you, with all my heart, for
your kindness. My feeling for your daughter has grown up gradually,
and it was not until I was last here that I recognized how much I
cared for her. I then, when I went away, resolved it would be
better for me not to return; at any rate, not to stay here again,
until I heard that she was married. It is true that I talked of
paying you a visit, even were Dresden captured; but I knew that
when the time came I should be able to find excuses for not doing
so. During the time that I was laid up with fever, she was ever in
my mind; but the necessity for my remaining away from here only
impressed itself, more and more strongly, upon me.

"Then you appeared, and carried me off. I could not refuse to come,
without giving my reason; but I fully determined that in no way, by
look or word, would I allow her to see that I regarded her other
than as the daughter of my kind host. I have had a hard fight to
keep that resolution, for each day my feelings have grown stronger
and stronger; and I had resolved that, before I left, I would own
to you, not my presumption, for I have not presumed, but my
weakness, and ask you to press me no more to come here, until your
daughter was married."

"You have acted just as I should have expected from you, Drummond.
The great hope of the countess and myself has been to see Thirza
happily married. Fortune or position in a suitor have been
altogether immaterial points, excepting that we would assure
ourselves that it was not to obtain these that her hand was sought.
From the first we have regarded you, not only with gratitude, but
with deep interest. It seemed to us only natural that, after so
strange and romantic a beginning to your acquaintance, Thirza
should regard you with more than ordinary interest. To her you
would be a sort of hero of romance. We watched you closely then,
and found that in ad