The buying of the wedding dress brought things so terribly close to her that she finally resolved to tell her father and stepmother of her engagement to Lord Medway. "I will take the first opportunity," she said to herself, and the opportunity came that night. Mr. Spencer was not present. They dined alone, and Mr. Semple was indulging one of those tempers which made him, as his father had said to Neil, "gey ill to live with." He had been told of Maria's behavior about the wedding dress, and the thundery aspect of his countenance during the meal found speech as soon as the table was cleared and they were alone. He turned almost savagely to his daughter and asked in a voice of low intensity: "What do you mean, Miss, by your perverse temper? Why did you not go with your mother to choose your wedding dress?" "Because it is not my wedding dress, sir. I have told you for many weeks that I will not marry Mr. Spencer;" then with a sudden access of courage, _"and I will not_. I am the promised wife of Lord Medway." Mr. Semple laughed, and then asked scornfully, "And pray, who is Lord Medway?" "He is my lover; my husband on the twenty-ninth of next November." All the passion and pride of a lifetime glowed in the girl's face. Her voice was clear and firm, and at that hour she was not a bit afraid. "I will tell you about him," she continued, and her attitude had in those few minutes so far dominated her audience that she obtained the hearing she might otherwise not have gained. Rapidly, but with singular dramatic power, she related the story of her life in New York--her friendship with Agnes Bradley, the attraction between herself and Harry Bradley, his arrest, trial and death sentence, Lord Medway's interference and her own engagement, her subsequent intimacy with the man she had promised to marry, and the love which had sprung up in her heart for him. "And I will not break my word, not a letter of it," she said in conclusion. "If there was any truth in this story," answered her father, "who cares for a woman's promises in love matters? They are not worth the breath that made them." "My promise to Lord Medway, father, rests on my honor. I could give him no security but my word. I must keep my word." "A woman's honor! A woman's word to a lover! Pshaw! Let us hear no more of such rant. What do you think of this extraordinary story, Elizabeth?" "I think it is a dream, a fabrication. Maria has imagined it. Who knows Lord Medway? I never heard tell of such a person." "Nevertheless, he will come for me on the twenty-fifth of November," said Maria. "Long before that time you will be Mrs. Richard Spencer," answered her father. "I declare to you, father, I will not. You may carry me to the altar, that is as far as you can go; you cannot make me speak. I will not say one word that makes me Richard Spencer's wife. I entreat you not to force such a trial on me. It will make me the town's talk, you also."