MOHAWKS A Novel BY THE AUTHOR OF "LADY AUDLEY'S SECRET," "VIXEN," "ISHMAEL," ETC. IN THREE VOLUMES. VOL. II. LONDON JOHN AND ROBERT MAXWELL MILTON HOUSE, SHOE LANE, FLEET STREET AND ST. BRIDE STREET, LUDGATE CIRCUS, E.C. [_All rights reserved_] LONDON: ROBSON AND SONS, LIMITED, PRINTERS, PANCRAS ROAD, N.W. CONTENTS OF VOL. II. CHAP. PAGE I. "IN OPPOSITION AGAINST FATE AND HELL" 1 II. "I STAND UPON THE GROUND OF MINE OWN HONOUR" 22 III. "THEY WERE BORN POOR, LIVED POOR, AND POOR THEY DIED" 39 IV. "YOU STOP MY TONGUE, AND TEACH MY HEART TO SPEAK" 75 V. "AND IN SUCH CHOICE SHALL STAND MY WEALTH AND WOE" 90 VI. "THE LADIES THERE MUST NEEDS BE ROOKS" 113 VII. "IN PLAYHOUSE AND IN PARK ABOVE THE REST" 141 VIII. "YET I AM IN LOVE, AND PLEASED WITH RUIN" 184 IX. "AND, LO! MY WORLD IS BANKRUPT OF DELIGHT" 210 X. "FORGET, RENOUNCE ME, HATE WHATE'ER WAS MINE" 224 XI. "AND WE SHALL FADE, AND LEAVE OUR TASK UNDONE" 242 XII. "BY FOREIGN HANDS THEY DYING EYES WERE CLOSED" 269 MOHAWKS CHAPTER I. "IN OPPOSITION AGAINST FATE AND HELL." "Herrick," said Lavendale suddenly next day, when the two friends were alone together in the Abbey hall, a spacious chamber, half armoury, half picture-gallery, rich alike in the damascened steel of Damascus and Toledo and in the angular saints and virgins of the early Italian painters; "Herrick, you are making love to my heiress; you are cutting off my advance to El Dorado; you are playing the part of a traitor." "'Tis a true bill, Jack. I confess my crime, my treachery--what you will. I adore Irene Bosworth, for whom you care not a straw. I should love her as fondly were she a beggar-girl that I had found by the roadside--'tis for herself I love her, and for no meaner reason. I loved her before you ever saw her face." "Ho, ho! how secret you can be!" "There are some things too holy to be canvassed with one who is seldom serious. Had I told you of my passion, you would have laughed at the love and the lover. I met that sweet girl in the wood one morning, met her again the next, adored her in the first hour we met, and went on loving her deeper with every meeting. And then you came home with your story of an heiress, and strutted like a peacock before her, irresistible, all-conquering, deeming it impossible that any other man could be loved while you were by. Was I to warn you of my silent rivalry? It is but within the last week I have told her of my love." "And does she return it?" "She tells me as much."