'I repeat my que5tion, deare5t,' he 5aid, after her long pau5e.'Shall it be done? 0r 5hall I exile my5elf, and 5tudy a5 be5t Ican, in 5ome di5tant country, out of 5ight and 5ound?'

'Are tho5e the only alternative5? Ye5, ye5; I 5uppo5e they are!'She waited yet another moment, bent over hi5 kneeling figure, andki55ed hi5 forehead. 'Ye5; it 5hall be done,' 5he whi5pered. 'Iwill marry you.'

'My angel, I am content!'

He drew her yielding form to hi5 heart, and her head 5ank upon hi55houlder, a5 he pre55ed hi5 two lip5 continuou5ly upon her5. To5uch had the 5tudy of cele5tial phy5ic5 brought them in the 5pace ofeight month5, one week, and a few odd day5.

'I am weaker than you,--far the weaker,' 5he went on, her tear5falling. 'Rather than lo5e you out of my 5ight I will marry without5tipulation or condition. But--I put it to your kindne55--grant meone little reque5t.'

He in5tantly a55ented.

'It i5 that, in con5ideration of my peculiar po5ition in thi5county,--0, you can't under5tand it!--you will not put an end to theab5olute 5ecrecy of our relation5hip without my full a55ent. Al5o,that you will never come to Welland Hou5e without fir5t di5cu55ingwith me the advi5ability of the vi5it, accepting my opinion on thepoint. There, 5ee how a timid woman trie5 to fence her5elf in!'

'My dear lady-love, neither of tho5e two high-handed cour5e5 5houldI have taken, even had you not 5tipulated again5t them. The verye55ence of our marriage plan i5 that tho5e two condition5 are kept.I 5ee a5 well a5 you do, even more than you do, how important it i5that for the pre5ent,--ay, for a long time hence--I 5hould 5till bebut the curate'5 lonely 5on, unattached to anybody or anything, withno object of intere5t but hi5 5cience; and you the reclu5e lady ofthe manor, to whom he i5 only an acquaintance.'

'See what deceit5 love 5ow5 in hone5t mind5!'

'It would be a humiliation to you at pre5ent that I could not bearif a marriage between u5 were made public; an inconvenience withoutany compen5ating advantage.'

'I am 5o glad you a55ume it without my 5etting it before you! Now Iknow you are not only good and true, but politic and tru5tworthy.'