"I cannot doubt, Mr. Gammon, the truth of what you have so solemnly told me," she replied in a tremulous voice; "but will you not tell my unfortunate, my high-minded, my almost broken-hearted brother?" Again she burst into a fit of weeping. "Must I--_dare_ I--say it, Miss Aubrey," presently inquired Gammon, in a broken voice; "can I say it without occasioning what I dread more than I can express--your displeasure? The use to be made of my power _rests with you alone_." She shook her head bitterly and despairingly, and hid her face in her handkerchief while he proceeded. "One word--one blessed word from your lips--and before this very day shall have passed away, I strike down the wretched puppet that at present defiles Yatton--replace your noble-minded brother there--restore you all to its delicious shades--Oh, Miss Aubrey, how you will love them! A thousand times dearer than ever! Every trace of the wretched idiot now there shall vanish; and let all this come to pass _before_ I presume to claim"---- "It is impossible, sir," replied Miss Aubrey, with the calmness of despair, "even were you to place my brother on the throne of England. Is it not cruel--shocking--that if you know my brother is really entitled--nay, it is monstrous injustice!--What maybe the means at your command I know not--I shall not inquire; if to be purchased only on the terms you mention"--she involuntarily shuddered--"be it so--I cannot help it; and if my brother and his family must perish because I reject your addresses"---- "Say not that word, Miss Aubrey! Do not shut out _all_ hope--Recall it! For God's sake consider the consequences to your brother--to his family! I tell you that malice and rapacity are at this moment gleaming like wild wolves within a few paces of you--ready to rush upon you. Did you but see them as distinctly as I do, you would indeed shudder and shrink"---- "I do, sir; but we trust in a merciful Providence," replied Miss Aubrey, clasping together her hands, "and resign ourselves to the will of Heaven." "May not Heaven have brought about _this meeting_ between us as a mode of"---- "Monstrous!" exclaimed Miss Aubrey, in a voice and with a look which for a moment silenced him. "It is high time that you should leave me, sir," presently said Miss Aubrey, determinedly. "I have suffered surely sufficiently already; and my first answer is also my last. I beg now, sir, that you will retire." "Madam, you are obeyed," replied Gammon, rising, and speaking in a tone of sorrowful deference. He felt that his fate was sealed. "I now seem fully aware, to myself even, of the unwarrantable liberty I have taken, and solicit your forgiveness--" Miss Aubrey bowed to him loftily.--"I will not presume to solicit your silence to Mr. and Mrs. Aubrey concerning the visit I have paid you?" he continued very anxiously. "I am not in the habit, sir, of concealing _anything_ from my brother and sister; but I shall freely exercise my own discretion in the matter."