"Yes;--and if she confines herself to that, do as she bids you. If she is ever to be your wife it will be all right; and if not,--then it will be better in your hands than in hers. In three months time she can do as she pleases with it all." He was then taken into Lady Anna's room. "Here is your cousin," said the Countess. "You must not talk long or I shall interrupt you. If you wish to speak to him about the property,--as the head of your family,--that will be very right; but confine yourself to that for the present." Then the Countess left them and closed the door. "It is not only about money, Lord Lovel." "You might call me Frederic now," said he tenderly. "No;--not now. If I am ever well again and we are then friends I will do so. They tell me that there is ever so much money,--hundreds of thousands of pounds. I forget how much." "Do not trouble yourself about that." "But I do trouble myself very much about it,--and I know that it ought to be yours. There is one thing I want to tell you, which you must believe. If I am ever any man's wife, I shall be the wife of Daniel Thwaite." That dark frown came upon his face which she had seen once before. "Pray believe that it is so," she continued. "Mamma does not believe it,--will not believe it; but it is so. I love him with all my heart. I think of him every minute. It is very very cruel that I may not hear from him or send one word to tell him how I am. There! My hand is on the Bible, and I swear to you that if I am ever the wife of any man, I will be his wife." He looked down at her and saw that she was wan and thin and weak, and he did not dare to preach to her the old family sermon as to his rank and station. "But, Anna, why do you tell me this now?" he said. "That you may believe it and not trouble yourself with me any more. You must believe it when I tell you so in this manner. I may perhaps never live to rise from my bed. If I get well, I shall send to him, or go. I will not be hindered. He is true to me, and I will be true to him. You may tell mamma if you think proper. She would not believe me, but perhaps she may believe you. But, Lord Lovel, it is not fit that he should have all this money. He does not want it, and he would not take it. Till I am married I may do what I please with it;--and it shall be yours." "That cannot be." "Yes, it can. I know that I can make it yours if I please. They tell me that--that you are not rich, as Lord Lovel should be, because all this has been taken from you. That was the reason why you came to me." "By heaven, Anna, I love you most truly." "It could not have been so when you had not seen me. Will you take a message from me to Daniel Thwaite?" He thought awhile before he answered it. "No, I cannot do that."