"Well;--not of that. But if I said that I loved you, you would not
believe me."

"It would not be true, my lord."

"But I know that I shall love you. You will let me try? You are very
lovely, and they tell me you are sweet-humoured. I can believe well
that you are sweet and pleasant. You will let me try to love you,
Anna?"

"No, my lord."

"Must it be so, so soon?"

"Yes, my lord."

"Why that? Is it because we are strangers to each other? That may
be cured;--if not quickly, as I would have it cured, slowly and by
degrees; slowly as you can wish, if only I may come where you shall
be. You have said that we may be friends."

"Oh yes,--friends, I hope."

"Friends at least. We are born cousins."

"Yes, my lord."

"Cannot you call me by my name? Cousins, you know, do so. And
remember this, you will have and can have no nearer cousin than I am.
I am bound at least to be a brother to you."

"Oh, be my brother!"

"That,--or more than that. I would fain be more than that. But I will
be that, at least. As I came to you, before I saw you, I felt that
whenever we knew each other I could not be less to you than that. If
I am your friend, I must be your best friend,--as being, though poor,
the head of your family. The Lovels should at least love each other;
and cousins may love, even though they should not love enough to be
man and wife."

"I will love you so always."

"Enough to be my wife?"

"Enough to be your dear cousin,--your loving sister."

"So it shall be,--unless it can be more. I would not ask you for more
now. I would not wish you to give more now. But think of me, and ask
yourself whether you can dare to give yourself to me altogether."

"I cannot dare, my lord."

"You would not call your brother, lord. My name is Frederic. But
Anna, dear Anna,"--and then he took her unresisting hand,--"you shall
not be asked for more now. But cousins, new-found cousins, who love
each other, and will stand by each other for help and aid against
the world, may surely kiss,--as would a brother and a sister. You
will not grudge me a kiss." Then she put up her cheek innocently,
and he kissed it gently,--hardly with a lover's kiss. "I will leave
you now," he said, still holding her hand. "But tell your mother
thus:--that she shall no longer be troubled by lawyers at the suit of
her cousin Frederic. She is to me the Countess Lovel, and she shall
be treated by me with the honour suited to her rank." And so he left
the