"What right have I to interfere! The right of having loved you with all my whole soul and strength; the right of one whose future has been bittered by your refusal to share it with him. I don't pine," he cried, "about a broken heart; I can bear to contemplate the lonely life which I shall have to lead; I could bear"--and the words here came very slowly through his set teeth--"to see you happily married to a man who appreciated and loved you, as I should have delighted in doing; but I will not stand patiently by to see the woman I have loved held up to the world's scorn, or deliberately dragged down to the depths of infamy." He spoke so strongly and so earnestly, his rude eloquence came evidently from the depths of his troubled heart, that even Daisy's stubborn pride seemed a little touched. "I know you mean this kindly towards me, Mr. Merton," she said, in a low voice; "and I fear I have shown myself scarcely sufficiently grateful, or even civil, to you; but, believe me, I appreciate your motives, and I thank you for coming here. Now you must go." "You will not send me away without assurance that this cruel thing shall not be; that you will say No to this horrible proposal, and never give it another moment's thought. Ah, do not think I am pleading for myself; do not think I am cherishing any vain hope that, this once put aside, I may come forward again and urge my suit. It is not so, I swear. I have accepted my fate, and shall--well, shall struggle on somehow, I daresay. It is for you, and you alone, that I am interested. Let me go away with the assurance that you are saved. Ah, Fanny, it is not much I ask you. Let me go away with that." "It would be easy for me to give you that assurance, and then to do as I pleased," said Daisy; "but you have shown yourself so true a friend that I will not deceive you." "And you will give me the assurance?" "No; I did not, I cannot, say that." "Then I will get it," cried John, "from Colonel Orpington." Daisy started. It was the first time the name had been mentioned during the interview. "You see I know him, and know where to find him. I will make him promise me to give up this pursuit." The tone in which he spoke had worked a wonderful and immediate change in Daisy's feelings. "Make him!" she cried. "You will not find the gentleman of whom you speak so easily forced to compliance with your desires." "I did not mean to force him," said John; "I----" "If it were not for the fear of compromising my name," said Daisy, now thoroughly roused, her eyes flashing, and her lip trembling, "he would hand you over to the police. We have had enough of this folly," she said, stamping her foot; "and as it is impossible to get you to go away, I must retire and leave you." As she spoke she rose from her seat, and giving him a very slight bow, she passed into the bedroom, the door of which she closed behind her. John Merton waited for a moment, then turned on his heel, and silently left the house.