Sometimes, during the progress of their secret amour, a thrill of uneasiness and fear ran coldly through her veins--a wondering doubt which she repelled with indignation whenever it suggested itself. Amadis de Jocelyn was and must be the very embodiment of loyalty and honour to the woman he loved!--it could not be otherwise. His tenderness was ardent,--his passion fiery and eager,--yet she wondered--timidly and with deep humiliation in herself for daring to think so far--why, if he loved her so much as he declared, did he not ask her to be his wife? She supposed he would do so,--though she had heard him depreciate marriage as a necessary evil. Evidently he had his own good reasons for deferring the fateful question. Meanwhile she made a little picture-gallery of ideal joys in her brain,--and one of her fancies was that when she married her Amadis she would ask Robin Clifford to let her buy Briar Farm. "He could paint well there!" she thought, happily, already seeing in her mind's eye the "Great Hall" transformed into an artist's studio--"and I almost think _I_ could carry on the farm--Priscilla would help me,--and we know just how Dad liked things to be done--if--if Robin went away. And the master of the house would again be a true Jocelyn!" The whole plan seemed perfectly natural and feasible. Only one obstacle presented itself like a dark shadow on the brightness of her dream--and that was her own "base" birth. The brand of illegitimacy was upon her,--and whereas once she alone had known what she judged to be a shameful secret, now two others shared it with her--Miss Leigh and Lord Blythe. They would never betray it--no!--but they could not alter what unkind fate had done for her. This was one reason why she was glad that Amadis de Jocelyn had not as yet spoken of their marriage. "For I should have to tell him!" she thought, woefully--"I should have to say that I am the illegitimate daughter of Pierce Armitage--and then--perhaps he would not marry me--he might change--ah no!--he could not!--he would not!--he loves me too dearly! He would never let me go--he wants me always! We are all the world to each other!--nothing could part us now!"