"I would not have it so, even if I dared to think that you would agree to it." "Oh, no, my lord; nor would I." "But if you could learn to love me--" "No, my lord;--no." "Do not answer me yet, my cousin. If I swore that I loved you,--loved you so soon after seeing you,--and loved you, too, knowing you to be so wealthy an heiress--" "Ah, do not talk of that." "Well;--not of that. But if I said that I loved you, you would not believe me." "It would not be true, my lord." "But I know that I shall love you. You will let me try? You are very lovely, and they tell me you are sweet-humoured. I can believe well that you are sweet and pleasant. You will let me try to love you, Anna?" "No, my lord." "Must it be so, so soon?" "Yes, my lord." "Why that? Is it because we are strangers to each other? That may be cured;--if not quickly, as I would have it cured, slowly and by degrees; slowly as you can wish, if only I may come where you shall be. You have said that we may be friends." "Oh yes,--friends, I hope." "Friends at least. We are born cousins." "Yes, my lord." "Cannot you call me by my name? Cousins, you know, do so. And remember this, you will have and can have no nearer cousin than I am. I am bound at least to be a brother to you." "Oh, be my brother!" "That,--or more than that. I would fain be more than that. But I will be that, at least. As I came to you, before I saw you, I felt that whenever we knew each other I could not be less to you than that. If I am your friend, I must be your best friend,--as being, though poor, the head of your family. The Lovels should at least love each other; and cousins may love, even though they should not love enough to be man and wife." "I will love you so always." "Enough to be my wife?" "Enough to be your dear cousin,--your loving sister." "So it shall be,--unless it can be more. I would not ask you for more now. I would not wish you to give more now. But think of me, and ask yourself whether you can dare to give yourself to me altogether." "I cannot dare, my lord." "You would not call your brother, lord. My name is Frederic. But Anna, dear Anna,"--and then he took her unresisting hand,--"you shall not be asked for more now. But cousins, new-found cousins, who love each other, and will stand by each other for help and aid against the world, may surely kiss,--as would a brother and a sister. You will not grudge me a kiss." Then she put up her cheek innocently, and he kissed it gently,--hardly with a lover's kiss. "I will leave you now," he said, still holding her hand. "But tell your mother thus:--that she shall no longer be troubled by lawyers at the suit of her cousin Frederic. She is to me the Countess Lovel, and she shall be treated by me with the honour suited to her rank." And so he left the house without seeing the Countess again. CHAPTER XI. IT IS TOO LATE.