ght, abandoned all idea of it
there and then, and had come on to the wedding as if nothing had happened
to interrupt for a moment the working out of their plan; how he had
scarcely thought with any closeness of the circumstances of the case
since, until reminded of them by this note she had seen, and a previous
one of a like sort received from the same solicitors.

'O Swithin! Swithin!' she cried, bursting into tears as she realized it
all, and sinking on the observing-chair; 'I have ruined you! yes, I have
ruined you!'

The young man was dismayed by her unexpected grief, and endeavoured to
soothe her; but she seemed touched by a poignant remorse which would not
be comforted.

'And now,' she continued, as soon as she could speak, 'when you are once
more free, and in a position--actually in a position to claim the annuity
that would be the making of you, I am compelled to come to you, and
beseech you to undo yourself again, merely to save me!'

'Not to save you, Viviette, but to bless me. You do not ask me to re-
marry; it is not a question of alternatives at all; it is my straight
course. I do not dream of doing otherwise. I should be wretched if you
thought for one moment I could entertain the idea of doing otherwise.'

But the more he said the worse he made the matter. It was a state of
affairs that would not bear discussion at all, and the unsophisticated
view he took of his course seemed to increase her responsibility.

'Why did your uncle attach such a cruel condition to his bounty?' she
cried bitterly. 'O, he little thinks how hard he hits me from the
grave--me, who have never done him wrong; and you, too! Swithin, are you
sure that he makes that condition indispensable? Perhaps he meant that
you should not marry beneath you; perhaps he did not mean to object in
such a case as your marrying (forgive me for saying it) a little above
you.'

'There is no doubt that he did not contemplate a case which has led to
such happiness as this has done,' the youth murmured with hesitation; for
though he scarcely remembered a word of his uncle's letter of advice, he
had a dim apprehension that it was couched in terms alluding specifically
to Lady Constantine.

'Are you sure you cannot retain the money, and be my lawful husband too?'
she asked piteously. 'O, what a wrong I am doing you! I did not dream
that it could be as bad as this. I knew I was wasting your time by
letting you love me, and hampering your pr