e, but he met Miss Harding one day
in the cathedral close. He tried to explain and apologised.

"Mr. Bold," said she, "you may be sure of one thing: I shall always
judge my father to be right, and those who oppose him I shall judge to
be wrong." And then, curtsying low, she sailed on, leaving her lover in
anything but a happy state of mind.

To her father Eleanor owned that she had loved John Bold once, but would
not, could not do so now, when he proved himself the enemy of her
father.

But the warden, wretched as he was at the attacks of the _Jupiter_,
declared that Bold was no enemy of his, and encouraged her love, and
then he spoke to her of happier days when their trials would all be
over.

That night Eleanor decided that she would extricate her father from his
misery; she would sacrifice herself as Iphigenia did for Agamemnon. She
would herself personally implore John Bold to desist from his
undertaking and stop the lawsuit; she would explain to him her father's
sorrows, and tell him how her father would die if he were thus dragged
before the public and exposed to such unmerited ignominy; she would
appeal to his old friendship, and, if need were, kneel to him for the
favour she would ask; but before she did this the idea of love must be
banished. There must be no bargain in the matter. She could not appeal
to his love, nor allow him to do so. Should he declare his passion he
must be rejected.

She rose refreshed in the morning, and after breakfast started out, and
arrived at Bold's door; where John's sister Mary greeted her warmly.

"John's out now, and will be for the next two hours, and he returns to
London by the mail train to-night."

"Mary, I must see your brother before he goes back, and beg from him a
great favour." Miss Harding spoke with a solemn air, and then went on
and opened to her friend all her plan for saving her father from a
sorrow which would, if it lasted, bring him to his grave.

While they were yet discussing the matter, Bold returned, and Eleanor
was forced into sudden action.

"Mr. Bold," said she, "I have come here to implore you to abandon this
proceeding, to implore you to spare my father."

"Eleanor, I will do anything; only let me tell you how I love you!"

"No, no, no," she almost screamed. "This is unmanly of you, Mr. Bold.
Will you leave my father to die in peace in his quiet home?" And seizing
him by his arm, she clung to him with fixed tenacity, and reiterated her
app