"No, no, father, I cannot!" she cried, with a shudder; "I detest--I despise him. I do not wish to marry. Let us go back to our old happy days, dear--as we were before this man came to trouble us. Why do you wish to send your little girl away?" The founder was moved, and his arm involuntarily embraced the slight form, and drew it to his breast, while his brow grew rugged with emotion. At that moment he felt as if he would gladly have gone back to the calm old days of peace, and in his heart of hearts he wished that there was no such thing as love, or marrying and giving in marriage, on the earth. "There, there," he said softly, as he caressed and petted her as he would have done when she was a child. "There, little one, I want to do what is best for thee, to make thee happy." "Let us stay as we are, then, father dear," she said, as she responded to his caresses. "No, no, child, it cannot be," he said. "I have given my word to Sir Mark, and he is to be thy husband, and that right soon." "No, no, father!" she cried; "you do not--you cannot mean it." "I do mean it, and it must be," he said firmly, as he rose, and she stepped back now, and stood gazing at him as, hastily pouring out and swallowing a glass of strong waters, he walked out of the room, leaving Mace standing with hands clasped before her, gazing at vacancy, as she realised her terrible position, and asked herself what she should do. That night she crept up to her room in a dazed, stunned fashion, and sat gazing out of her window, watching the stars rise slowly from over the sea, as she wondered whether Gil would come back and save her from the fate that threatened, where he was now, and whether she should ever look again with beating heart at their innocent little signal in the grassy bank--the four glow-worms' lights. Where was he now? she asked herself. Was he thinking of her as his ship sailed over the blue Mediterranean? Perhaps so; but would the time come when it would be a sin for her to think of him other than as a friend? With a shudder she told herself that such a time could never be, for she would sooner take the boat some night and let it drift far out over the deepest part of the Pool, and there step over into the cold, black waters in search of the rest that she could not hope for here. And as she thought all this in a weary, despairing way, the founder sat in his own room, angry, troubled, and full of pity for his child; but all the same relieved of a heavy load, as he told himself that she knew now what was to be, and that she would soon grow happy and content. Volume 2, Chapter XVI. HOW SIR MARK KNOCKED AWAY TWO PROPS.