which would lead him by another path to all that he has
been seeking. Anna, you know what I mean."

"Yes; I know."

"Has he made no such claim."

"I cannot tell."

"You cannot tell whether or no he has asked you to be his wife?"

"No; I cannot tell. Do not look at me like that, Daniel. He came
here, and mamma left us together, and he was kind to me. Oh! so kind.
He said that he would be a cousin to me, and a brother."

"A brother!"

"That was what he said."

"And he meant nothing more than that,--simply to be your brother?"

"I think he did mean more. I think he meant that he would try to love
me so that he might be my husband."

"And what said you to that?"

"I told him that it could not be so."

"And then?"

"Why then again he said that we were cousins; that I had no nearer
cousin anywhere, and that he would be good to me and help me, and
that the lawsuit should not go on. Oh, Daniel, he was so good!"

"Was that all?"

"He kissed me, saying that cousins might kiss?"

"No, Anna;--cousins such as you and he may not kiss. Do you hear me?"

"Yes, I hear you."

"If you mean to be true to me, there must be no more of that. Do you
not know that all this means that he is to win you to be his wife?
Did he not come to you with that object?"

"I think he did, Daniel."

"I think so too, my dear. Surrender! I'll tell you what that
surrender means. They perceive at last that they have not a shadow
of justice, or even a shadow of a chance of unjust success in their
claim. That with all their command of money, which is to be spent,
however, out of your property, they can do nothing; that their false
witnesses will not come to aid them; that they have not another
inch of ground on which to stand. Their great lawyer, Sir William
Patterson, dares not show himself in court with a case so false and
fraudulent. At last your mother's rights and yours are to be owned.
Then they turn themselves about, and think in what other way the
prize may be won. It is not likely that such a prize should be
surrendered by a noble lord. The young man is made to understand that
he cannot have it all without a burden, and that he must combine his
wealth with you. That is it, and at once he comes to you, asking
you to be his wife, so that in that way he may lay his hands on the
wealth of which he has striven to rob you."

"Daniel, I do not think that he is like that!"

"I tell you he is not only like it,--but that itself. Is it