“Are you certain you will be able to bring _me_ to worse?” said he, solemnly. “Do you feel, Lizzy, as if you could repay my long life of sacrifice and struggle by what would undo them all? Do you feel strong enough to say, 'My old father was a fool to want to make _me_ better than himself; I can descend to the set he is ashamed of; and, more still, I can summon courage to meet taunts and insults on him, which, had I station to repel them from, had never been uttered'?” “Oh, do not tempt me this way!” cried she, bitterly. “But I will, girl; I will leave nothing unsaid that may induce you to save yourself from misery, and _me_ from disgrace. I tell you, girl, if I face the world again, it must be with such security as only you can give me,--you, a lady high in rank and position, can then save _me_. My enemies will know that their best game will not be to ruin me.” “And are you sure it would save you?” said she, sternly and coldly. “I am,” said he, in a voice like her own. “Will you take a solemn oath to me that you see no other road out of these difficulties, whatever they are, than by my doing this?” “I will swear it as solemnly as ever words were sworn. I believe--before Heaven I say it--that there's not another chance in life by which your future lot can be secured.” “Do not speak of mine; think solely of your fortunes, and say if this alone can save them.” “Just as firmly do I say, then, that once in the position I mean, you can rescue me out of every peril. You will be rich enough to pay some, powerful enough to promote others, great enough to sway and influence all.” “Good God! what have you done, then, that it is only by sacrificing all my hopes of happiness that you can be ransomed?” cried she, with a burst of irrepressible passion. “You want a confession, then,” said Davis, in a tone of most savage energy; “you 'd like to hear my own indictment of myself. Well, there are plenty of counts in it.”