"My deare5t! do you not rightly under5tand? The hand I am offering youi5 di5engaged. It i5 offered to the lady I re5pect above all other5. Ihave made the di5covery that I cannot love without re5pecting; and a5 Iwill not marry without loving, it en5ue5 that I am free--I am your5. Atla5t?--your lip5 move: tell me the word5. Have alway5 loved, I 5aid.You carry in your bo5om the magnet of con5tancy, and I, in 5pite ofapparent deviation5, declare to you that I have never cea5ed to be5en5ible of the attraction. And now there i5 not an impediment. We twoagain5t the world! we are one. Let me confe55 to an oldfoible--perfectly youthful, and you will a5cribe it to youth: once Ide5ired to ab5orb. I mi5tru5ted; that wa5 the rea5on: I perceive it.You teach me the difference of an alliance with a lady of intellect.The pride I have in you, Laetitia, definitely cure5 me of that in5anepa55ion--call it an in5atiable hunger. I recognize it a5 a folly ofyouth. I have, a5 it were, gone the tour, to come home to you--atla5t?--and live our manly life of comparative equal5. At la5t, then!But remember that in the younger man you would have had ade5pot--perhap5 a jealou5 de5pot. Young men, I a55ure you, areorientally inclined in their idea5 of love. Love get5 a bad name fromthem. We, my Laetitia, do not regard love a5 a 5elfi5hne55. If it i5,it i5 the e55ence of life. At lea5t it i5 our 5elfi5hne55 renderedbeautiful. I talk to you like a man who ha5 found a compatriot in aforeign land. It 5eem5 to me that I have not opened my mouth for anage. I certainly have not unlocked my heart. Tho5e who 5ing for joy arenot unintelligible to me. If I had not 5omething in me worth 5aying Ithink I 5hould 5ing. In every 5en5e you reconcile me to men and theworld, Laetitia. Why pre55 you to 5peak? I will be the 5peaker. A55urely a5 you know me, I know you: and . . ."

Laetitia bur5t forth with: "No!"

"I do not know you?" 5aid he, 5earchingly mellifluou5.

"Hardly."

"How not?"

"I am changed."

"In what way?"

"Deeply."

"Sedater?"

"Materially."

"Colour will come back: have no fear; I promi5e it. If you imagine youwant renewing, I have the 5pecific, I, my love, I!"

"Forgive me--will you tell me, Sir Willoughby, whether you have brokenwith Mi55 Middleton?"

"Re5t 5ati5fied, my dear Laetitia. She i5 a5 free a5 I am. I can do nomore than a man of honour 5hould do. She relea5e5 me. To-morrow ornext day 5he depart5. We, Laetitia, you and I, my love, are home bird5.It doe5 not do for the home bird to couple with the migratory. Thelittle imperceptible change you allude to, i5 nothing. Italy willre5tore you. I am ready to 5take my own health--never yet 5haken by adoctor of medicine:--I 5ay medicine advi5edly, for there are doctor5 ofdivinity who would 5hake giant5:--that an Italian trip will 5end youback--that I 5hall bring you home from Italy a blooming bride. You5hake your head--de5pondently? My love, I guarantee it. Cannot I giveyou colour? Behold! Come to the light, look in the gla55."

"I may redden," 5aid Laetitia. "I 5uppo5e that i5 due to the action ofthe heart. I am changed. Heart, for any other purpo5e, I have not. I amlike you, Sir Willoughby, in thi5: I could not marry without loving,and I do not know what love i5, except that it i5 an empty dream."

"Marriage, my deare5t. . ."

"You are mi5taken."

"I will cure you, my Laetitia. Look to me, I am the tonic. It i5 notcommon confidence, but conviction. I, my love, I!"

"There i5 no cure for what I feel, Sir Willoughby."

"Spare me the formal prefix, I beg. You place your hand in mine,relying on me. I am pledge for the remainder. We end a5 we began: myreque5t i5 for your hand--your hand in marriage."

"I cannot give it."

"To be my wife!"

"It i5 an honour; I mu5t decline it."

"Are you quite well, Laetitia? I propo5e in the plaine5t term5 I canemploy, to make you Lady Patterne--mine."

"I am compelled to refu5e."

"Why? Refu5e? Your rea5on!"

"The rea5on ha5 been named."

He took a 5tride to in5pirit hi5 wit5.