gerton cares for my fortune. Put him to the test, papa.
Tell him that you will give me nothing, and that be may take me on
that condition.'

Augusta Darrell turned upon her stepdaughter with a sudden look in
her face that was almost like a flame.

'Do you think him so disinterested?' she asked. 'Have you such
supreme confidence in his affection?'

'Perfect confidence.'

'And you do not believe that mercenary considerations have any
weight with him? You do not think that he is eager to repair his
shattered fortunes? You think him all truth and devotion? He, a
_blase_ man of the world, of three-and-thirty; a man who has outlived
the possibility of anything like a real attachment; a man who
lavished his whole stock of feeling upon the one attachment of his
youth.'

She said all this very quietly, but with a suppressed bitterness. I
think it needed all her powers of restraint to keep her from some
passionate outburst that would have betrayed the secret of her life.
I was now more than ever convinced that she had known Angus Egerton
in the past, and that she had loved him.

'You see, I am not afraid of his being put to the test,' Milly said
proudly. 'I know he loved some one very dearly, a long time ago. He
spoke of that yesterday. He told me that his old love had died out
of his heart years ago.'

'He told you a lie,' cried Mrs. Darrell. 'Such things never die.
They sleep, perhaps--like the creatures that hide themselves in the
ground and lie torpid all the winter--but with one breath of the past
they flame into life again.'

'I am not going to make any such foolish trial of your lover's
faith, Milly,' said Mr. Darrell. 'Whether your fortune is or is not
a paramount consideration with him can make no possible difference
in my decision. Nothing will ever induce me to consent to your
marrying him. Of course, if you choose to defy me, you are of age
and your own mistress; but on the day that makes you Angus Egerton's
wife you will cease to be my daughter.'

'Papa,' cried Milly, 'you will break my heart.'

'Nonsense, child; hearts are not easily broken. Let me hear no more
of this unfortunate business. I have spoken to you very plainly, in
order that there might be no chance of misunderstanding between us;
and I rely upon your honour that there shall be no clandestine
meeting between you and Angus Egerton in the future. I look to you,
Miss Crofton, also, and shall hold you answerable for any accidental
encounters