"But that shall never be! Why, Odalite, you speak not only as if you do not like the man, but as if you really hate him; and that being so, you shall not marry him! I will put a stop to that at once! I have the first right to you by a long distance--the only right to you, indeed--and--and I'll throttle him--confound him!--before he shall have a hair of your head!" "Oh, Le, hush! hush! You don't know! You mistake! Le, I must marry him! Do you understand? I must, I say!" wailed Odalite, wringing her hands. "And you shall not, I say, because you do not want to. Your promise to him goes for nothing beside my claims," said the youth, in a tone of gay defiance. "But, Le! Le! I--I--I want to marry him! I do indeed!" she cried, again bursting into tears and weeping violently. He drew back from her in amazement, staring at her, while she repeated and reiterated her words, that she really wished to marry Col. Anglesea. "I cannot comprehend you at all, Odalite. My heart aches for your evident suffering; but I cannot comprehend it. I almost fear that you are not quite sane! If you really please yourself in marrying Anglesea--as you insist that you do--why should you be so miserable over it all?" "Oh, Le! as I told you before, it is because--because I feel that I am acting so basely by you!--oh, my dear! the thought almost maddens me!" she sobbed. "And is it indeed for me that the gentle heart suffers so much?" questioned Le, utterly subdued by her sorrow and humility. "Do not cry, Odalite. I was cruel, and brutal, and most unmanly to blame you so much a while ago. I am sorry and ashamed of having done so, Odalite. I have no excuse to offer, unless it is that the suddenness and the bitterness of my disappointment threw me off my balance. Forgive me, Odalite. And do not spend another thought or shed another tear over me. Poor, little, tender Odalite! Do not mind me, little one! I--I--I shall get over this when I feel sure that you are happy. Do not grieve so! I shall never blame you any more, dear! I mourn that I ever could have been such a wretch as to blame you, for you could not help what has happened. I was away at the antipodes--had been there for years. He was in the house with you for three months. And--and--I have noticed--even I--what a fascination some of these handsome, brilliant soldiers exercise over young girls! You were fascinated, and your affections were won before you knew it. You did not mean to be drawn away from me any more than the boat means to be sucked into the whirlpool! You could not avert your fate any more than the boat could. I do not condemn you, Odalite. And I shall always--always love--no! I must not love another man's bride, even though he has stolen her from me; but I will always care for you as for a dear and only sister. There! there! do not cry any more. It is all for the best! All for the best!" he concluded, in a broken voice, that all his effort failed to steady.