"I am not hysterical, Le! I am not hysterical; but I am false--faithless! Despise and forget me, Le! for I am not worthy of your remembrance. I am false and faithless!" "No, no! Odalite, it cannot be true!" cried the young man, in a sharp tone of anguish. "Yes, yes! it is true! it is true! it is shameful, but it is true!" exclaimed the desperate girl. "Oh, my Lord, my Lord! Can this be possible? You false to me, Odalite! You--you!" cried the youth, growing deathly pale, while great drops of cold sweat started from his forehead. The girl strove to speak, but failed, and nodded with a choking sob. "Who is the man?" demanded the youth, throwing himself again on the bench, since indeed he was scarcely able to stand. "I--I--I--am engaged to Col. Anglesea," gasped and faltered Odalite. "'Col. Anglesea!' And who, in the foul fiend's name, is Col. Anglesea? Satan fly away with him!" "He is--is an--an officer in the--the East India Service." "How did you come to know him? May the----" "Oh, don't, don't, Le! He was an old--old friend of my mother, and--we met him at Niagara." "I wish to Heaven he was at the foot of the falls!" "So do I with all my heart!--oh, no, I don't either!--I--I don't know what I am talking about! My head is wild!" said Odalite, putting her hand to her forehead. Le looked at her wistfully. "An old friend of your mother, eh?" "Yes." "Rich? Of high rank?" "I--I believe so." "Where is the man?" "He is here at Mondreer, where he has been staying ever since he came down with us at my father's invitation from Niagara." "And you are going to marry him?" "Oh, yes," replied Odalite, with a heartrending sigh. "It cannot be helped. It is all settled." "I see how it is! A friend of your mother, rich, and of high position; and so they have yielded to the temptation of wealth and rank, and they have forced or coaxed you into compliance with their wishes in consenting to this dishonorable marriage! I did not think so of my uncle and aunt. But this cannot, shall not go on! I shall insist upon my prior rights. Take heart, my precious. I shall not let them destroy our happiness by parting us. No, not for all the wealth and rank in the world!" "Oh, Le! Le! you mistake! you mistake! Nobody forced me! Nobody persuaded me! I am going to marry Col. Anglesea of my own free will! Indeed I am! Oh, Le! Le!" wailed the unhappy girl. The youth stared at her in speechless astonishment and bitter misery. "Oh! don't look so, Le!--don't look so! I am not worth it, Le! Indeed I am not!" "Do I understand you to say that you break your engagement to me, and marry this foreigner, of your own free, unbiased will?" he asked, at last, in cold, hard, restrained tones. "Yes, yes, yes! that is what I am going to do!" replied Odalite, with the firmness of despair.