"O Mary, Mary! have you tracked my footsteps, dogged me through the mazes of the Forest, to discover this secret; and was this worthy of you?” "I suppose, Sir, I am at liberty to ride where I please; I was on horseback when I accidentally beheld your clandestine meeting," said Mary, condescending to equivocate, as she could not altogether rebut the imputation. 66 Mary, you are mistaken: the conclusions you have apparently drawn from what you saw, are wrong, totally wrong. I swear to you most solemnly," he continued, observing that she shook her head with a look of incredulous scorn," that there is nothing, absolutely nothing whatever in the nature of my acquaintance with that lady which should prevent any other attachment that I might He hesitated, and Mary, striving to maintain an indifference which she was far from feeling, exclaimed in a taunting tone, "Nay, Sir, what you swear, must of course be true; who can doubt it? I have no right to demand any explanation of your conduct, and I am far from wishing to hear it: if you proceed, therefore, it will be for your own pleasure, not for mine." This speech was made in the hope of stimulating him to some sort of confession, even while she disavowed any desire of the kind; and she was therefore proportionably mortified, when George replied, "No, Mary, no. I must not, cannot follow the dictates of my heart by laying open to you all its wishes, all its hopes and fears. I have sworn secrecy, and whatever may be the consequences, my lips shall be sealed upon the subject of this misapprehended interview. My own safety, and that of another who is still dearer to me than I am to myself, might be fatally implicated by the smallest disclosure.” Mary's warm and impetuous disposition would not allow her to maintain for any length of time a tone of sneer or sarcasm. Frank and straightforward herself, she had a profound hatred of double dealing in others; nor was she by any means scrupulous or measured in the expression of her opinion, when her mind was once made up. In the speech she had just heard, she could perceive nothing but a paltry equivocation, or a direct avowal that his promise to this unknown lady, and his regard for her safety, were of greater value in George's opinion, than any considerations connected with herself; under the impulse of which irritating impression, she darted at him a look of ineffable scorn, as she exclaimed, "Enough, Sir, enough; attempt not any more evasions; you stand already sufficiently low in my contempt. But I warn you, once for all, that if you remain beneath this roof, and presume again to address me in such terms as you have often used, or in other than those of the coldest civility, I shall expose your insidious falsehoods, and desire my father to chastise and dismiss you from his house, for having dared to insult his daughter !" any "I was wrong, I confess I was wrong, if I have betrayed to you the secret wishes of my heart; wishes which should never have been indulged, because it is impossible they should be gratified. But, however culpable I may be, surely, Mary, I deserve your pity rather than your anger, when I swear to you that the attractions which I have not been able altogether to resist, have added bitterness to a cup that was already overflowing." "I understand not this ambiguous language," said Mary, haughtily, "and I will save you the humiliation of any farther shuffling and subterfuge." So saying, she hastily quitted the room, ran up-stairs to her own chamber, and threw herself into a chair; when her feelings, no longer sustained by wounded pride and fierce indignation, presently found vent in an hysterical burst of tears. CHAPTER X. O Heaven, how horrible it is to be THE Captain, who had been absent upon some of the arrangements connected with the night's adventure, now returned, and roused George from the painful reverie into which he had sunk, by the hoarse exclamation of-" Start my timbers! what are you dreaming on? Come, man, be alive, and stir your stumps, for it's most time for us to be jogging." The party |