suming the hand, which, in the hurry of her spirits, she had not courage to withdraw, "will you not grant me one suit, in return for my zeal in your service?"
"Any thing you can ask, my Lord Evandale, that sisterly affection can give."
"And is this all," he continued, "all you can grant to my affection living, or my memory when dead?"
"Do not speak thus, my lord," said Edith, "you distress me, and do injustice to yourself. There is no friend I esteem more highly, or to whom I would more readily grant every mark of regard—providing—But"———
A deep sigh made her turn her head suddenly, ere she had well uttered the last word; and, as she hesitated how to frame the exception with which she meant to close the sentence, she became instantly aware she had been overheard by Morton, who, heavily ironed and guarded by soldiers, was now passing behind her in order to be presented to Claverhouse. As
