arling child."

"Oh, papa, do you think I would leave you?" said Zillah, and she came
back to the bed.

The doctor, who had been waiting until the General should become a
little calmer, now administered an anodyne, and he fell asleep, his
hand clasped in Zillah's, while she, fearful of making the slightest
movement, sat motionless and despairing far into the night.

CHAPTER X.

A WEDDING IN EXTREMIS.

Two days passed; on the second Guy Molyneux arrived. Lord Chetwynde
was ill, and could not travel. He sent a letter, however, full of
earnest and hopeful sympathy. He would not believe that things were
as bad as his old friend feared; the instant that he could leave he
would come up to Pomeroy Court; or if by God's providence the worst
should take place, he would instantly fetch Zillah to Chetwynde
Castle; and the General might rely upon it that, so far as love and
tenderness could supply a father's place, she should not feel her
loss.

On Guy's arrival he was shown into the library. Luncheon was laid
there, and the housekeeper apologized for Miss Pomeroy's absence.
Guy took a chair and waited for a while, meditating on the time when
he had last seen the girl who in a short time was to be tied to him
for life. The event was excessively repugnant to him, even though he
did not at all realize its full importance; and he would have given
any thing to get out of it; but his father's command was sacred, and
for years he had been bound by his father's word. Escape was utterly
impossible. The entrance of the clergyman, who seemed more intent on
the luncheon than any thing else, did not lessen Guy's feelings of
repugnance. He said but little, and sank into a fit of abstraction,
from which he was roused by a message that the General would like to
see him. He hurried up stairs.

The General smiled faintly, and greeted him with as much warmth as
his weak and prostrated condition would allow.

"Guy, my boy," said he, feebly, "I am very glad to see you."

To Guy the General seemed like a doomed man, and the discovery gave
him a great shock, for he had scarcely anticipated any thing so bad
as this. In spite of this, however, he expressed a hope that the
General might yet recover, and be spared many years to them.

"No," said the General, sadly and wearily; "no; my days are numbered.
I must die, my boy; but I shall die in peace, if I feel that I do not
leave my child uncared for."

Guy, in spite of his dislike an