"

"Listen to me, Anna. You shall never marry him; never. With my own
hands I will kill him first;--or you." The girl stood looking into
her mother's face, and trembling. "Do you understand that?"

"You do not mean it, mamma."

"By the God above me, I do! Do you think that I will stop at anything
now;--after having done so much? Do you think that I will live to see
my daughter the wife of a foul, sweltering tailor? No, by heavens! He
tells you that when you are twenty-one, you will not be subject to my
control. I warn you to look to it. I will not lose my control, unless
when I see you married to some husband fitting your condition in
life. For the present you will live in your own room, as I will live
in mine. I will hold no intercourse whatever with you, till I have
constrained you to obey me."

CHAPTER XXXVII.

LET HER DIE.

After the scene which was described in the last chapter there was a
very sad time indeed in Keppel Street. The Countess had been advised
by the Serjeant and Mrs. Bluestone to take her daughter immediately
abroad, in the event of the interview with Daniel Thwaite being
unsatisfactory. It was believed by all concerned, by the Bluestones,
and the Goffes, by Sir William Patterson who had been told of the
coming interview, and by the Countess herself, that this would not
be the case. They had all thought that Lady Anna would come out
from that meeting disengaged and free to marry whom she would,--and
they thought also that within a very few weeks of her emancipation
she would accept her cousin's hand. The Solicitor-General had
communicated with the Earl, who was still in town, and the Earl again
believed that he might win the heiress. But should the girl prove
obstinate;--"take her away at once,--very far away;--to Rome, or some
such place as that." Such had been Mrs. Bluestone's advice, and in
those days Rome was much more distant than it is now. "And don't let
anybody know where you are going," added the Serjeant,--"except Mr.
Goffe." The Countess had assented;--but when the moment came, there
were reasons against her sudden departure. Mr. Goffe told her that
she must wait at any rate for another fortnight. The presence of
herself and her daughter were necessary in London for the signing
of deeds and for the completion of the now merely formal proofs of
identity. And money was again scarce. A great deal of money had been
spent lately, and unless money was borrowed without security, a