"Well, at all events you can't deny one thing," says she checking her sobs, and gazing at him again with undying enmity. "You want to get rid of me, you are determined to marry me to some one, so as to get me out of your way. But I shan't marry to please _you._ I needn't either. There is somebody else who wants to marry me besides your--_your_ candidate!" with an indignant glance. "I have had a letter from Sir Hastings this afternoon. And," rebelliously, "I haven't answered it yet." "Then you shall answer it now," says the professor. "And you shall say 'no' to him." "Why? Because you order me?" "Partly because of that. Partly because I trust to your own instincts to see the wisdom of so doing." "Ah! you beg the question," says he, "but I'm not so sure I shall obey you for all that." "Perpetua! Do not speak to me like that, I implore you," says the professor, very pale. "Do you think I am not saying all this for your good? Sir Hastings--he is my brother--it is hard for me to explain myself, but he will not make you happy." "Happy! _You_ think of my happiness?" "Of what else?" A strange yearning look comes into his eyes. "God knows it is _all_ I think of," says he. "And so you would marry me to Mr. Hardinge?" "Hardinge is a good man, and--he loves you." "If so, he is the only one on earth who does," cries the girl bitterly. She turns abruptly away, and struggles with herself for a moment, then looks back at him. "Well, I shall not marry him," says she. "That is in your own hands," says the professor. "But I shall have something to say about the other proposal you speak of." "Do you think I want to marry your brother?" says she. "I tell you no, no, _no!_ A thousand times no! The very fact that he _is_ your brother would prevent me. To be you ward is bad enough, to be your sister-in-law would be insufferable. For all the world I would not be more to you than I am now." "It is a wise decision," says the professor icily. He feels smitten to his very heart's core. Had he ever dreamed of a nearer, dearer tie between them?--if so the dream is broken now. "Decision?" stammers she. "Not to marry my brother." "Not to be more to you, you mean!" "You don't know what you are saying," says the professor, driven beyond his self-control. "You are a mere child, a baby, you speak at random." "What!" cries she, flashing round at him, "will you deny that I have been a trouble to you, that you would have been thankful had you never heard my name?" "You are right," gravely. "I deny nothing. I wish with all my soul I had never heard your name. I confess you have troubled me. I go beyond even _that,_ I declare that you have been my undoing! And now, let us make an end of it. I am a poor man and a busy one, this task your father laid upon my shoulders is too heavy for me. I shall resign my guardianship; Gwendoline--Lady Baring--will accept the position. She likes you, and--you will find it hard to break _her_ heart."