hip the day after tomorrow."

And then, without concealing any thing, he told her all he had suffered
since the day before. Miss Ville-Handry felt as if she had been stunned
by a crushing blow. She was leaning against a tree. Did she even hear
Daniel? Yes; for, suddenly rousing herself, she said,--

"You will not obey! It is impossible for you to obey!"

"Henrietta, my honor is at stake."

"Ah, what does it matter?"

He was about to reply; but she continued in a broken voice,--

"You will certainly not go when you have heard me. You think I am
strong, brave, and capable to breast the storm? You are mistaken. I was
only drawing upon your energy, Daniel. I am a child, full of daring as
long as it rests on its mother's knee, but helpless as soon as it feels
that it is left to itself; I am only a woman, Daniel; I am weak."

The unhappy man felt his strength leaving him; he could no longer bear
the restraint which he had imposed upon himself.

"You insist upon sending me off in utter despair?" he asked her. "Ah, I
have hardly courage enough for myself!"

She interrupted him with a nervous laugh, and said in bitter sarcasm,--

"It would be courage to stay, to despise public opinion."

And, as any thing appeared to her preferable to such a separation, she
added,--

"Listen! If you will stay, I will yield. Let us go together to my
father, and I will tell him that I have overcome my aversion to Miss
Brandon. I will ask him to present me to her; _I_ will humble myself
before her."

"That is impossible, Henrietta."

She bent towards him, joining her hands; and in a suppliant voice she
repeated,--

"Stay, I beseech you, in the name of our happiness! If you have ever
loved me, if you love me now, stay!"

Daniel had foreseen this heartrending scene; but he had vowed, that,
if his heart should break, he would have the fortitude to resist
Henrietta's prayers and tears.

"If I were weak enough to give way now, Henrietta," he said, "you would
despise me before the month is over; and I, desperate at having to drag
out a life of disgrace, would blow out my brains with a curse on you."

With her arms hanging listlessly by her side, her hands crossed behind
her, Miss Ville-Handry stood there motionless, like a statue. She felt
in her heart that Daniel's resolution was not to be shaken.

Then he said in a gentle voice,--

"I am going, Henrietta; but I leave you a friend of mine,--a true and
noble friend, who will watc