as
willing to take thee at thine own worth, even against the will of my
father, against the desire of David, who knew thee better than I--he
gauged thee at first glance."

"You have become a philosopher and a statesman," he said ironically.
"Has your nephew, the new Joseph in Egypt, been giving you instructions
in high politics? Has he been writing the Epistles of David to the
Quakers?"

"Thee will leave his name apart," she answered with dignity. "I have
studied neither high politics nor statesmanship, though in the days when
thee did flatter me thee said I had a gift for such things. Thee did
not speak the truth. And now I will say that I do not respect thee. No
matter how high thee may climb, still I shall not respect thee; for thee
will ever gain ends by flattery, by subtlety, and by using every man and
every woman for selfish ends. Thee cannot be true-not even to that which
by nature is greatest in thee.".

He withered under her words.

"And what is greatest in me?" he asked abruptly, his coolness and
self-possession striving to hold their own.

"That which will ruin thee in the end." Her eyes looked beyond his
into the distance, rapt and shining; she seemed scarcely aware of
his presence. "That which will bring thee down--thy hungry spirit of
discovery. It will serve thee no better than it served the late Earl.
But thee it will lead into paths ending in a gulf of darkness."

"Deborah!" he answered, with a rasping laugh. "Continuez! Forewarned is
forearmed."

"No, do not think I shall be glad," she answered, still like one in a
dream. "I shall lament it as I lament--as I lament now. All else fades
away into the end which I see for thee. Thee will live alone without a
near and true friend, and thee will die alone, never having had a true
friend. Thee will never be a true friend, thee will never love truly
man or woman, and thee will never find man or woman who will love thee
truly, or will be with thee to aid thee in the dark and falling days."

"Then," he broke in sharply, querulously, "then, I will stand alone. I
shall never come whining that I have been ill-used, to fate or fortune,
to men or to the Almighty."

"That I believe. Pride will build up in thee a strength which will be
like water in the end. Oh, my lord," she added, with a sudden change in
her voice and manner, "if thee could only be true--thee who never has
been true to any one!"

"Why does a woman always judge a man after her own persona