Lady Margaret was now at times engaged with him in secret discourses, which occasioned much apparent dissention between them; but Calantha was not the subject. “He has the heart of a fiend,” Lady Margaret would often exclaim, as she left him; and Calantha could perceive that, with all her power of dissimulation, she was more moved more irritated by him, than she ever had been before by any other. He also spoke of Lady Margaret with bitterness, and the asperity between them grew to such a height, that Calantha apprehended the most fatal effects from it. Still, however, the Duke wished to conciliate a dangerous and malignant foe; and though his visits to the castle were short, compared with what they had been, they were as frequent as ever. CHAPTER XXVIII. It happened one morning that Calantha, having been walking with Lord Glenarvon, upon her return entered the library rather unexpectedly, and perceived Zerbellini with the Count Gondimar and Lady Margaret. They all seemed in some confusion at her entrance. She was however too deeply occupied with other thoughts to enquire into their strange embarrassment; and looking at Glenarvon, she watched the varying expression of his countenance with anxious solicitude. At dinner that day he seated himself near her. Mrs. Seymour’s eyes were filled with tears. “It is too late,” he said, in a low whisper: “be firm: it makes me mad to see the arts that are used to separate us. Speak only to me—think only of me. What avail their frowns, their reproaches? I am dearer, am I not than all?” Dinner being over, Calantha avoided her aunt’s presence. She perceived it, and approaching her, “My child,” she said, “do not fly me. My unhappy Calantha, you will break my heart, if you act thus.” At that moment Lady Margaret joined them: “Ask Calantha,” she said, “now ask her about the pearl necklace.”