‘If you have anything to say, it is perhaps better to say it. But if it pains you, if it gives you the slightest mental agony or discloses family affairs, then, my dear sir, be dumb;’ and the speaker glanced out of the window, as if he considered the matter settled. ‘But I must tell you. It is impossible I can fulfil my promises without your assistance. In the first place, I am commanded to join your League or Brotherhood; and here, you see, I cannot get any further without your good advice and countenance.’ ‘You distress me,’ Le Gautier replied mournfully. ‘I wish that matter could have been settled without such a step being necessary. Our work, though a noble one, is attended at times with great hardship and danger. Think, my dear Sir Geoffrey—think if there is no middle course by which such an action may be avoided.’ The speaker created the impression he was most anxious to make. To the baronet, full of his scheme, this advice was unpalatable, the more that, like most spoilt, weak-minded men, he was intensely fond of his own way. He grew stubborn. Le Gautier was perfectly at ease as he studied the other’s face. ‘I see no middle course. The injunction was very strict. I dare not disobey, if I would. I must become a member of your League, whatever the danger may be; and if called upon, I must take my part in the work. Do you not remember the vision?’—— ‘You forget my state,’ Le Gautier interrupted softly—‘that during the time I heard nothing, comprehended nothing going on around me. My faculties for the time being were torpid.’ This adroit interruption only served to increase the baronet’s uneasiness. He writhed in his chair, unable to continue. ‘And there is another thing,’ he stammered, ‘which I must tell you, though I scarcely know how. I daresay you have noticed my daughter?’ ‘Is it possible to see her and not be conscious of her beauties!’ Le Gautier cried—‘to be in her presence and not feel the charm of her society! Ah! Sir Geoffrey,’ he continued blandly, throwing out a strong hint, ‘he will be a happy man who wins the treasure of her heart!’ At this helping of the lame dog over the stile, Sir Geoffrey looked grateful. ‘Has she ever impressed you, Le Gautier?’ ‘Alas, yes,’ was the melancholy reply, but with some feeling too, for, as far as he was concerned, the passion was genuine. ‘Why should I strive to conceal my honest love? I may be poor and unknown, but I am at least a gentleman, and I offer the greatest compliment man can pay a woman—an ardent, loving heart.—But I am rambling; I dream, I rave! That I should aspire to an alliance with the House of Charteris!’ The baronet was somewhat moved by this display of manly emotion, and, moreover, his pride was tickled. The young man evidently knew that what he aspired to was a high honour indeed.