"Rejected, Henry, _my_ suit rejected--oh, no! In supposing my grief to originate with her, you are correct; but imagine not it is because my suit is rejected--certainly not." "Then," exclaimed Henry, with generous emphasis, while he pressed the thin hand which he held more closely between his own, "Why not marry her?" Gerald started. "Yes, marry her," continued Henry; "marry her and be at peace. Oh! Gerald, you know not what sad agency I attached to that insidious American from the first moment of her landing on this shore--you know not how much I have disliked, and still dislike her--but what are all these considerations when my brother's happiness is at stake? Gerald, marry her--and be happy." "Impossible," returned the sailor, in a feeble voice, and again his heart sank upon the open palm of his hand. "Do you no longer love her, then?" eagerly questioned the astonished youth. Once more Gerald raised his head, and fixed his large, dim eyes full upon those of his brother. "To madness!" he said, in a voice and with a look that made Henry shudder. There was a moment of painful pause. The latter at length ventured to observe: "You speak in riddles, Gerald. If you love this Miss Montgomerie to madness, and are, as you seem to intimate, loved by her in return, why not, as I have urged, marry her?" "Because," replied the sailor, turning paler than before, and almost gasping for breath, "there is a condition attached to the possession of her hand." "And that is?" pursued Henry, inquiringly, after another long and painful pause-- "My secret," and Gerald pointed significantly to his breast. "True," returned Henry, slightly coloring; "I had forgotten--but what condition, Gerald (and here he spoke as if piqued at the abrupt manner in which his brother had concluded his half confidence), what condition, I ask, may a woman entitled to our respect, as well as to our love, propose, which should be held of more account than that severest of offences against the Divine will--self-murder? Nay, look not thus surprised; for have you not admitted that you had guiltily attempted to throw away your life--to commit suicide, in short--rather than comply with an earthly condition?" "What if in this," returned Gerald, with a smile of bitterness, "I have preferred the lesser guilt to the greater?" "I can understand no condition, my brother, a woman worthy of your esteem could impose, which should one moment weigh in the same scale against the inexpiable crime of self-destruction. But, really, all this mystery so startles and confounds me, that I know not what to think--what inference to draw." "Henry," observed the sailor, with some show of impatience, "considering your promise not to urge it further, it seems to me you push the matter to an extremity." The youth made no reply, but, raising himself from his knees, moved towards the door, which he again unbolted. He then walked to the window at the further end of the apartment.