se eye could for a moment even break
the peace of my heart. I have seen everywhere only persons of like
perfection, whose characters had no more wrinkles than the coat made
by the first of tailors, all equally eager and gallant, playing well,
talking well, dancing well, riding well."

She shook her head with a movement full of energy; and, beaming with
enthusiasm, she exclaimed,--

"Ah! I had dreamed of better things to come. What I dreamed of was a
man of noble heart, with an inflexible will, capable of attempting what
others dared not,--what, I do not know, but something grand, perilous,
impossible. I dreamed of one of those ambitious men with a pale brow, a
longing look, whose eyes sparkle with genius,--one of those strong men
who impose their will upon the multitude, and who remove mountains by
the force of their will.

"Alas! to repay the love of such a man, I would have found treasures in
my heart, which now remain useless, like all the wealth that is buried
at the bottom of the sea. I would have drunk deep from the cup of my
hopes; my pulse would have kept time with the fever of his excitement.
For his sake, I would have made myself small, humble, useful; I would
have watched in his looks for the shadow of a desire.

"But how proud I would have been, I, his wife, of his success and of his
glories, of the reverence paid him by his admirers, and the hatred of
his enemies!"

Her voice had vibrations in it that might have stirred up the heart of a
stoic. The splendor of her exalted beauty illumined the room.

And gradually, one by one, Daniel's suspicions vanished, or fell to
pieces like the ill-jointed pieces of an ancient armor. But Miss Brandon
paused, ashamed of her vehemence, and continued more slowly,--

"Now, sir, you know me better than any other person in this world. You
alone have read the innermost heart of Sarah Brandon. And yet I see you
today for the first time in my life. And yet you are the first man who
has ever dared to speak harshly to me, harsh unto insult. Will you make
me repent of my frankness? Oh, no, no! surely you will not be so cruel.
I know you to be a man of honor and of high principles; I know how, in
order to save a name which you revere, you have risked your prospects in
life, the girl you love, and an enormous fortune. Yes, Miss Ville-Handry
has made no ordinary choice."

She looked as if she were utterly despondent, and added, in a tone of
concentrated rage,--

"And I, I k