Her father perceived what was going on, but gave no outward sign that he should oppose himself to the result to which circumstances were apparently leading. In fact, he had not come to any decision on the subject, for though he was a worldly-minded man, and wished his daughter to make what is termed a good match, he was aware that, with her small fortune, she could not command one; and he knew from experience, that she would never sacrifice her feelings to the prospect of a brilliant establishment. He was not, therefore, disinclined to her marrying a person of moderate means, for whom she had conceived an affection. Adelaide interpreted silence to mean consent, and feeling complete confidence in Warenne’s love for her, gave him, in return, the full affection of her maiden heart. What happy and blissful hours were these, when each, though they had not told their love, lived but for the other. They lasted not long. Warenne soon awakened to the real difficulties of his situation, and took himself severely to task for the headlong impetuosity with which he had set at hazard his own, and, perhaps, another’s happiness. Had he a right to ask one who had been from childhood surrounded by every luxury affluence could purchase, to descend, for his sake, to comparative indigence? Could he request her to quit the brilliant circle she adorned to become the inmate of a barrack yard? His soul revolted at the thought. What was he, that he should outweigh in her estimation privations such as these? She would, he doubted not, if she loved him, despise all worldly advantages, but should he subject her to them because she loved him? For the first time in his life his want of riches galled him; he felt as though he were guilty of presumption in loving Adelaide, and he hesitated to make the avowal which for ever hovered upon his lips. Adelaide perceived his disquietude, and from some expressions he inadvertently let fall, pretty accurately conjectured its cause. At first she was inclined to be angry with him, under the false impression that he conceived her capable of being influenced by a regard for wealth; but she could not retain her anger when she overheard him one day say to Henry, who had been blaming an acquaintance of theirs for not proposing to a lady to whom he was tenderly attached, “Henry, you forget that Compton is a poor man. How can he ask Miss Thornton to leave her comfortable home and share his poverty?” There was a bitterness in the tone with which he uttered these words, which betrayed the secret feeling that prompted the reply. Then she was aware that he considered a woman of any refinement to be singularly misplaced in the midst of the quarters of a regiment, for, in the earlier days of their intimacy, when laughing and talking with her and her brother, over the _agrémens_ and _desagrémens_ of a soldier’s life, he had often expressed an opinion to this effect.