ce it with all the Stympson farrago, the exaggeration
of which Dermot, after his own meeting with Henry Alison, and with
Prometesky to corroborate him, was fully prepared to explode, to the
satisfaction even of Lord Eryinanth.

Harold himself was deeply sensible of the stain and burthen of his
actual guilt, more so, indeed, than he had ever been before, both from
the religious influences to which he had submitted himself, and from
the sense of that sweet innocence of his Viola's; but his feeling had
come to be that if his Heavenly Father loved and forgave him, so, in a
lesser way, Viola forgave him because she loved him. He did not wonder
at nor complain of Lady Diana's not thinking him worthy of her good and
lovely child. He would be thankful to submit to any probation, five,
seven, ten years without any engagement, if he might hope at last.
Even Lord Erymanth, when he saw how his darling's soul was set on it,
thought that thus much might be granted.

But Lady Diana had still another entrenchment which she had concealed,
as it were, to the last, not wishing to shock and pain us all, she
said. Though she said she had reason to complain of not having been
told from the first that Harold had once been insane, nothing could
induce her to sanction her daughter's marriage with a man whose mind
had been disordered; nay, who had done mortal injury in his frenzy. It
was a monstrous idea!

Dermot's reply to this was, that nobody, then, ought to marry who had
had a delirious fever; and he brought Prometesky over to Arked to
testify to her how far the attack had been from anything approaching to
constitutional insanity. The terrible fall, of which Harold's head
still bore the mark, the shock, the burning sun, were a combination of
causes that only made it wonderful that he should have recovered the
ensuing brain fever, and the blow to his rival had been fatal by the
mere accident of his strength. A more ordinary man would have done no
serious harm by such a stroke, given when not accountable. Lady Diana
answered stiffly that this might be quite true, but that there had been
another cause for the temporary derangement which had not been
mentioned, and that it was notorious that Mr. Alison, in consequence,
had been forced to avoid all liquors, and she appealed to Dermot as to
the effects of a very small quantity on his friend's brain.

Poor Dermot! it was bitter enough for him to have that orgie at Foling
brought forward a