ld trouble me
no more. But I could not concede to anything of that nature, of course,
and the consequence was these long weeks of imprisonment and suspense;
weeks that I do not now begrudge, seeing they have brought me the
assurance of your esteem and the knowledge, that wherever I go, your
thoughts will follow me with compassion if not with love."

And having told her story and thus answered his demands, she assumed
once more the position of lofty reserve that seemed to shut him back
from advance like a wall of invincible crystal.

CHAPTER XX. THE BOND THAT UNITES

But he was not to be discouraged. "And after all this, after all you
have suffered for my sake and your own, do you think you have a right to
deny me the one desire of my heart? How can you reconcile it with your
ideas of devotion, Luttra?"

"My ideas of devotion look beyond the present, Mr. Blake. It is to save
you from years of wearing anxiety that I consent to the infliction upon
you of a passing pang."

He took a bold step forward. "Luttra, you do not know a man's heart. To
lose you now would not merely inflict a passing pang, but sow the seeds
of a grief that would go with me to the grave."

"Do you then"--she began, but paused blushing. Mrs. Daniels took the
opportunity to approach her on the other side.

"My dear mistress," said she, "you are wrong to hold out in this
matter." And her manner betrayed something of the peculiar agitation
that had belonged to it in the former times of her secret embarassment.
"I, who have honored the family which I have so long served, above every
other in the land, tell you that you can do it no greater good than
to join it now, or inflict upon it any greater harm than to wilfully
withdraw yourself from the position in which God has placed you."

"And I," said another voice, that of the Countess de Mirac, who up to
this time had held herself in the background, but who now came forward
and took her place with the rest, "I, who have borne the name of Blake,
and who am still the proudest of them all at heart, I, the Countess de
Mirac, cousin to your husband there, repeat what this good woman has
said, and in holding out my hand to you, ask you to make my cousin happy
and his family contented by assuming that position in his household
which the law as well as his love accords you."

The girl looked at the daintily gloved hand held out to her, colored
faintly, and put her own within it.

"I thank you for yo