276
TALES OF MY LANDLORD.
Chapter XIII.
After you're gone,
I grew acquainted with my heart, and search'd
What stirr'd it so.—Alas! I found it love.
Yet far from lust, for could I but have lived
In presence of you, I had had my end.
Philaster.
Annot Lyle had now to contemplate the terrible gulph which Allan M'Aulay's open declaration of love and jealousy had made to open around her. It seemed as if she was tottering on the very brink of destruction, and was at once deprived of every refuge, and of all human assistance. She had long been conscious that she loved Menteith dearer than a brother; indeed, how could it be otherwise, considering their early intimacy,—the personal merit of the young nobleman,—his assiduous at-
