mile at all these cares. All will flow
smoothly yet, and we shall all yet live at Armine, Mr. Temple and all.'

'Papa likes you so much too, Ferdinand, I should be miserable if you
offended him.'

'Which I certainly should do if I were not to speak to Sir Ratcliffe
first.'

'Do you, indeed, think so?'

'Indeed I am certain.'

'But cannot you write to Sir Ratcliffe, Ferdinand? Must you really go?
Must we, indeed, be separated? I cannot believe it; it is inconceivable;
it is impossible; I cannot endure it.'

'It is, indeed, terrible,' said Ferdinand. 'This consideration alone
reconciles me to the necessity: I know my father well; his only answer
to a communication of this kind would be an immediate summons to his
side. Now, is it not better that this meeting should take place when
we must necessarily be much less together than before, than at a later
period, when we may, perhaps, be constant companions with the sanction
of our parents?'

'O Ferdinand! you reason, I only feel.'

Such an observation from one's mistress is rather a reproach than
a compliment. It was made, in the present instance, to a man whose
principal characteristic was, perhaps, a too dangerous susceptibility;
a man of profound and violent passions, yet of a most sweet and tender
temper; capable of deep reflection, yet ever acting from the impulse of
sentiment, and ready at all times to sacrifice every consideration to
his heart. The prospect of separation from Henrietta, for however short
a period, was absolute agony to him; he found difficulty in conceiving
existence without the influence of her perpetual presence: their parting
even for the night was felt by him as an onerous deprivation. The only
process, indeed, that could at present prepare and console him for the
impending sorrow would have been the frank indulgence of the feelings
which it called forth. Yet behold him, behold this unhappy victim of
circumstances, forced to deceive, even for her happiness, the being whom
he idolised; compelled, at this hour of anguish, to bridle his heart,
lest he should lose for a fatal instant his command over his head; and,
while he was himself conscious that not in the wide world, perhaps,
existed a man who was sacrificing more for his mistress, obliged to
endure, even from her lips, a remark which seemed to impute to him a
deficiency of feeling. And yet it was too much; he covered his eyes with
his hand, and said, in a low and broken voice, 'Alas! m