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dissuade her from the wild and useless scheme of seclusion and concealment. But as time now presses, permit me to speak, first, upon subjects which press also,—press irresistibly, unconquerably!—Your plan of becoming a governess—"
"I dare not stay, now, to discuss any thing personal; yet I cannot refrain from seizing a moment that may not again offer, for making my sincerest apologies upon a subject—and a declaration—I shall never think of without confusion. I feel all its impertinence, its inutility, its presumption; but you will make, I hope, allowance for the excess of my alarm. I could devise no other expedient."
"Tell me," cried he, "I beg, was it for her . . . or for me that it was uttered? Tell me the extent of its purpose!"
"You cannot, surely, Sir, imagine—cannot for a moment suppose, that I was guided by such egregious vanity as
