"There is no need for any of those pretty airs and graces with me," she said. "I am going to speak stern truths to you. You, a young girl, barely twenty, with all your life before you--surely you cannot be so shamelessly untrue as even to pretend that you are marrying an old man like my uncle for love? You know it is not so--you dare not even pretend it." Elinor's face flushed crimson. "Why do you speak so to me, Miss Darrell?" she gasped. "Because I want to warn you. Are you not ashamed--yes, I repeat the word, ashamed--to sell your youth, your hope of love, your life itself, for money and title? That is what you are doing. You do not love Sir Oswald. How should you? He is more than old enough to be your father. If he were a poor man, you would laugh his offer to scorn; but he is old and rich, and you are willing to marry him to become Lady Darrell, of Darrell Court. Can you, Elinor Rocheford, look me frankly in the face, and say it is not so?" No, she could not. Every word fell like a sledge-hammer on her heart, and she knew it was all true. She bent her crimson face, and hid it from Pauline's clear gaze. "Are you not ashamed to sell yourself? If no truth, no honor, no loyalty impels you to end this barter, let fear step in. You do not love my uncle. It can give you no pain to give him up. Pursue your present course, and I warn you. Darrell Court ought to be mine. I am a Darrell, and when my uncle took me home it was as his heiress. For a long period I have learned to consider Darrell Court as mine. It is mine," she continued--"mine by right, for I am a Darrell--mine by right of the great love I bear it--mine by every law that is just and right! Elinor Rocheford, I warn you, beware how you step in between me and my birthright--beware! My uncle is only marrying you to punish me; he has no other motive. Beware how you lend yourself to such punishment! I am not asking you to give up any love. If you loved him, I would not say one word; but it is not a matter of love--only of sale and barter. Give it up!" "How can you talk so strangely to me, Miss Darrell? I cannot give it up; everything is arranged." "You can if you will. Tell my uncle you repent of the unnatural compact you have made. Be a true woman--true to the instinct Heaven has placed in your heart. Marry for love, nothing else--pure, honest love--and then you will live and die happy. Answer me--will you give it up?" "I cannot," murmured the girl. "You will not, rather. Listen to me. I am a true Darrell, and a Darrell never breaks a word once pledged. If you marry my uncle, I pledge my word that I will take a terrible vengeance on you--not a commonplace one, but one that shall be terrible. I will be revenged upon you if you dare to step in between me and my just inheritance! Do you hear me?" "I hear. You are very cruel, Miss Darrell. You know that I cannot help myself. I must fulfill my contract."