_ life over again,--you 'll never see the winning-post."

"And is it not better to confront the storm, and risk one's chances with
the elements, than suffer shipwreck at once? I tell you, father," cried
she, eagerly, "I 'll face all the perils you speak of, boldly; I'll
brave insolence, neglect, sarcasm,--what they will,--only let me feel
one honest spot in my heart, and be able to say to myself, 'You have
toiled lowly, and fared ill; you have dared a conflict and been worsted;
but you have not made traffic of your affections, nor bought success by
that which makes it valueless.'"

"These are the wild romances of a girl's fancy," said Davis. "Before a
twelvemonth was over, you could n't say, on your oath, whether you had
married for love or interest, except that poverty might remind you of
the one, and affluence suggest the other. Do you imagine that the
years stop short with spring, and that one is always in the season of
expectancy? No, no; months roll along, and after summer comes autumn,
and then winter, and the light dress you fancied that you never need
change would make but scanty clothing."

"But if I am not able to bring myself to this?"

"Are you certain you will be able to bring _me_ to worse?" said he,
solemnly. "Do you feel, Lizzy, as if you could repay my long life of
sacrifice and struggle by what would undo them all? Do you feel strong
enough to say, 'My old father was a fool to want to make _me_ better
than himself; I can descend to the set he is ashamed of; and, more
still, I can summon courage to meet taunts and insults on him, which,
had I station to repel them from, had never been uttered'?"

"Oh, do not tempt me this way!" cried she, bitterly.

"But I will, girl; I will leave nothing unsaid that may induce you to
save yourself from misery, and _me_ from disgrace. I tell you, girl, if
I face the world again, it must be with such security as only you can
give me,--you, a lady high in rank and position, can then save _me_. My
enemies will know that their best game will not be to ruin me."

"And are you sure it would save you?" said she, sternly and coldly.

"I am," said he, in a voice like her own.

"Will you take a solemn oath to me that you see no other road out of
these difficulties, whatever they are, than by my doing this?"

"I will swear it as solemnly as ever words were sworn. I believe--before
Heaven I say it--that there's not another chance in life by which your
future lot can be se