man himself say to all this, Lina?' I inquired;
'did he never speak to you on the subject?'

"'Yes,' she replied; and after he had spoken quite bitterly against my
father, (they never liked each other,) he said, that, however he might
feel towards him as his guardian, there was nothing that he could not
forget and forgive in the father of his wife,--which did not make me
respect him any more, you may be sure, and showed me that it was useless
to appeal to his generosity. My life now was miserable indeed.

"'About this time, my aunt in Scotland sent for me to pay her a visit.
She was in failing health, and wanted cheerful companionship, and I had
always been a favorite with her as a child. She lived alone with a
couple of old servants in a small village far in the wilds of ----shire.
My father, of course, opposed my going, alleging, as his reason, the
long journey (we were then living in W----, in Shropshire) that I should
have to take alone. To my astonishment, Frank took my part, insisting on
my being allowed to go. Whether it was that he thought that when far
away from home, in the seclusion of the Scotch village where my aunt
lived, I should think more kindly of him, or whether he wished to touch
me by a show of magnanimity, I cannot tell; but so it was, and I went.'

"Lina here paused a moment, thoughtfully.

"'But, Lina,' I said, 'if the young man was well educated, rich, and
seemed only to have the one fault of loving you so well, why would you
not marry him? _Ma chere_,' I said, 'you throw away your good fate. You
see what a service it would be to your family. (I speak as your friend,
you comprehend.) You save your father; you make the young man happy; all
could be arranged so charmingly! I should like to see you married, _ma
chere_; and then, your duty as a daughter!'

"'Oh, yes, yes! she cried; 'I would do, oh, anything almost, to shield
my poor father and mother! Perhaps once, _once_, I might; but it is too
late now. I cannot marry Frank. Oh, Madame, it is as impossible as if I
were dead!'

"'This is a strange story, Lina,' I said. 'What do you mean? Tell me, my
child, or I shall think you crazy.'

"She laid her head on her hands, which were clasped on the top of the
escritoire, and half whispered,--

"'I am engaged,--I am married to some one else.'

"I sprang from my seat, and caught her hands.

"'You married, Lina? you? the quiet girl who has been teaching the
children so well all these months?'