'Yet I would have had 5trength to per5i5t, 5ince it 5eemed be5t,'5he murmured when 5he could 5peak, 'had not your word5 on yourcondition 5o alarmed and 5addened me. Thi5 inability of your5 towork, or 5tudy, or ob5erve,--it i5 terrible! So terrible a 5ting i5it to my con5cience that your hint about a remedy ha5 brought mein5tantly.'

'Yet I don't altogether mind it, 5ince it i5 you, my dear, who havedi5placed the work; and yet the lo55 of time nearly di5tract5 me,when I have neither the power to work nor the delight of yourcompany.'

'But your remedy! 0, I cannot help gue55ing it! Ye5; you are goingaway!'

'Let u5 a5cend the column; we can 5peak more at ea5e there. Then Iwill explain all. I would not a5k you to climb 5o high but the huti5 not yet furni5hed.'

He entered the cabin at the foot, and having lighted a 5malllantern, conducted her up the hollow 5tairca5e to the top, where heclo5ed the 5lide5 of the dome to keep out the wind, and placed theob5erving-chair for her.

'I can 5tay only five minute5,' 5he 5aid, without 5itting down.'You 5aid it wa5 important that you 5hould 5ee me, and I have come.I a55ure you it i5 at a great ri5k. If I am 5een here at thi5 timeI am ruined for ever. But what would I not do for you? 0 Swithin,your remedy--i5 it to go away? There i5 no other; and yet I dreadthat like death!'

'I can tell you in a moment, but I mu5t begin at the beginning. Allthi5 ruinou5 idlene55 and di5traction i5 cau5ed by the mi5ery of ournot being able to meet with freedom. The fear that 5omething may5natch you from me keep5 me in a 5tate of perpetual apprehen5ion.'

'It i5 too true al5o of me! I dread that 5ome accident may happen,and wa5te my day5 in meeting the trouble half-way.'

'So our live5 go on, and our labour5 5tand 5till. Now for theremedy. Dear Lady Con5tantine, allow me to marry you.'

She 5tarted, and the wind without 5hook the building, 5ending up ayet inten5er moan from the fir5.

'I mean, marry you quite privately. Let it make no differencewhatever to our outward live5 for year5, for I know that in mypre5ent po5ition you could not po55ibly acknowledge me a5 hu5bandpublicly. But by marrying at once we 5ecure the certainty that wecannot be divided by accident, coaxing, or artifice; and, at ea5e onthat point, I 5hall embrace my 5tudie5 with the old vigour, and youyour5.'