you still persist in opposing her."

"There is the door," said Mrs. Livingstone rising.

"I see it, madam," answered Malcolm, without deigning to move.

"Oblige me by passing out," continued Mrs. Livingstone. "Insolent
creature, to stand here threatening to elope with my daughter, who
has been destined for another since her infancy."

"But she shall never become the bride of that old man," answered
Malcolm. "I know your schemes. I've seen them all along, and I will
frustrate them, too."

"You cannot," fiercely answered Mrs. Livingstone. "It shall be ere
another year comes round, and when you hear that it is so, know that
you hastened it forward;" and the indignant lady, finding that her
opponent was not inclined to move, left the room herself, going in
quest of Anna, whom she determined to watch for fear of what might
happen.

But Anna was nowhere to be found, and in a paroxysm of rage she
alarmed the household, instituting a strict search, which resulted in
the discovery of Anna beneath the same sycamore where Malcolm had
first breathed his vows, and whither she had repaired to await the
decision of her parents.

"I expected as much," said she, when told of the result, "but it
matters not. I am yours, and I'll never marry another."

The approach of the servants prevented any further conversation, and
with a hurried adieu they parted. A few days afterward, as Mrs.
Livingstone, sat in her large easy-chair before the glowing grate,
Captain Atherton was announced, and shown at once into her room. To
do Mrs. Livingstone justice, we must say that she had long debated
the propriety of giving Anna, in all the freshness of her girlhood,
to a man old as her father, but any hesitancy she had heretofore
felt, had now vanished. The crisis had come, and when the captain,
as he had two or three times before done, broached the subject,
urging her to a decision, she replied that she was willing, provided
Anna's consent could be gained.

"Pho! that's easy enough," said the captain, complacently rubbing
together his fat hands and smoothing his colored whiskers--"Bring her
in here, and I'll coax her in five minutes."

Anna was sitting with her grandmother and 'Lena, when word came that
her mother wished to see her, the servant adding, with a titter, that
"Mas'r Atherton thar too."

Instinctively she knew why she was sent for, and turning white as
marble, she begged her cousin to go with her. But 'Lena refused,
soot