He looked round wildly, and a sense of despair that was almost insupportable attacked him as he fully realised his position and the justice of the words which had stung him to the heart. "But there is something more," he said to himself, as, with nerves jarred and his feelings lacerated by disappointment, unworthy thoughts now crept in--"there is something more." And throwing himself into a chair, he sat gazing down at the carpet, recalling bit by bit every look and word of his brother, beginning with the scene upon the staircase on the night of Elisia's first arrival. They were thoughts which grew more and more unworthy--thoughts which began to rankle in and venom his nature, as he formed mental pictures of his brother being received with smiles and kindly words. "I would rather see her dead," he muttered fiercely; and at that moment the object of his thoughts entered from the dressing room, bearing the little tray with his father's lunch. Their eyes met, and as he gazed in the pure, sweet face, the harsh unworthy thoughts passed away, to give place to a sense of misery, hopelessness, and despondency, which humbled him before her to the dust. "And I dared to think all that!" he said to himself, as he rose and drew back from the couch to give place for her to approach. At that moment the passion within him burned as strongly, but it was softened and subdued by the better feelings--the tender love which prevailed. "Forgive me," he said deprecatingly. "I was nearly mad." She made no reply, but stood by the couch half turned from him, and he could see that her lips were working. "Can you not hear my words?" he continued humbly. "What more can I say? It was the truth." She turned to him proudly. "Mr Elthorne," she said, "I ask you, as a gentleman, to end this scene. If you have any respect for my position here, pray go." He stood looking at her for a few moments, then turned and left the room without a word, giddy with emotion, crushed by a terrible feeling of despair which drove him to his own room. Here the bitter thoughts came back. Alison had been impressed from the first, and he was always seeking for opportunities to speak to her. That, then, was the reason, he told himself. She had twitted him with his engagement, but she would not have cast him off for that; and in this spirit a couple of hours went by, during which he paced the room. Unable to bear the turmoil in his brain, toward the middle of the afternoon he went down and determined on trying to calm the irritation of his nerves by a long walk. Crossing the garden, he reached the park, and was hesitating as to the direction he should take. Then, in a motiveless way, he went on to a plantation through which a path led toward a beautiful woodland hollow, which was his father's pride as being the loveliest bit of the park scenery.