our interview, but it may save us
both much time and much temper. I have said that you are changed towards
me."

"Oh, sir! if I had suspected that this was to be the theme--" She
stopped, and seemed uncertain, when he finished the speech for her.

"You would never have accorded me this meeting. Do be frank, madam, and
spare me the pain of self-inflicted severity. Well, I will not impose
upon your kindness,--nor indeed was such my intention, if you had but
heard me out. Yes, madam, I should have told you that while I deplore
that alteration, I no more make you chargeable with it, than _you_ can
call _me_ to account for cherishing a passion without a hope. Both one
and the other are independent of us. That one should forget and the
other remember is beyond mere volition."

He waited for some token of assent, some slight evidence of concurrence;
but none came, and he resumed:

"When first I had the happiness of being distinguished by some slight
show of your preference, there were many others who sought with
eagerness for that position I was supposed to occupy in your favor. It
was the first access of vanity in my heart, and it cost me dearly. Some
envied me; some scoffed; some predicted that my triumph would be a brief
one; some were rude enough to say that I was only placed like a buoy,
to show the passage, and that I should lie fast at anchor while others
sailed on with prosperous gale and favoring fortune. You, madam, best
know which of these were right. I see that I weary you. I can conceive
how distasteful all these memories must be, nor should I evoke them
without absolute necessity. To be brief, then, you are now about to play
over with another the very game by which you once deceived me. It is
your caprice to sacrifice another to your vanity; but know, madam, the
liberties which the world smiled at in Miss Gardiner will be keenly
criticised in the Lady Kilgoff. In the former case, the most malevolent
could but hint at a _mesalliance_; in the latter, evil tongues can take
a wider latitude. To be sure, the fascinating qualities of the suitor,
his wealth, his enviable position, will plead with some; my Lord's
age and decrepitude will weigh with others: but even these charitable
persons will not spare _you_. Your own sex are seldom over-merciful in
their judgments. Men are unscrupulous enough to hint that there was no
secret in the matter; some will go further, and affect to say that they
themselves were not unfav