"That is true," said Percival, "yet it had been nobler in Ap Gryffyth to forgive him, after the example of his Master, who, hanging on the bitter cross, cursed not, but prayed for the forgiveness of His murderers! And for a family, once noble and honoured above almost any other in Wales, to suffer so grievous a punishment for one act of sin and weakness, is to me so terrible a thought, that I would give my life to unsay the words of my unfortunate ancestor, and remove the blight which has so long cursed yours! Call it not virtue, I pray you! It is but such charity as the meanest might desire to show towards a fallen foe." "And I may not know the curse even now?" said Primrose meditatively. "Nay, sweet mistress, do not seek to know it," he answered earnestly. "If, by the mercy of God, your mother's sacrifice for you may have availed to set you free therefrom, and if I too may play the part in restoring your father's name to honour, which she has graciously bidden me not despair of playing, but of which I dare not at this present moment let myself speak, I conjure you to let the secret dwell in her heart and mine only, and to rest content in suffering us to bear its burden, knowing there is in this world no burden so heavy, that for your sweet sake we would not esteem it but as a feather's weight for lightness!" And for the first time raising her hand to his lips, he left her and repaired to his study, while she, unable to still the tumultuous feelings of love and of pride in his goodness which filled her breast, wandered to and fro by the riverside till the evening shadows had almost deepened into night. CHAPTER XXIV. THE PHYSICIAN'S DISCOVERY. "Let a man contend to the uttermost For his life's set prize, be it what it will." --ROBERT BROWNING. Primrose was not wrong in her conjecture that some great conflict of soul had been secretly undergone by Percival Vere during the year which had elapsed since their first meeting and the dawning of that happy friendship which had made the year to herself so full of new gladness and sunshine. That it could not have been a season of uninterrupted gladness to him was plainly evident from the new lines of care which the months had left on his countenance, and which, at her first meeting again with him, she had at once noted with sorrow and wonder.