He seized her violently, drew her up the stairs until they had reached the narrow attic passage, and commanding the negro to unlock the door that stood before them, forced her into the room; dismissed the servant, locked the door on the inside, and turned upon her. Elsie had dropped into an old flag-bottomed armchair, where she sat shivering with cold and fear. He turned upon the delicate and trembling girl fiercely, scornfully, triumphantly, tauntingly, as if she had been some rough male adversary in his power. He placed the key in his pocket, buttoned up his overcoat, and stood looking at her with a bitter, sarcastic laugh, saying: “You have insulted and provoked me sufficiently this evening, Miss Garnet! You were very happy and confident an hour ago. What do you think of your prospects now?” Elsie shuddered and was silent. “Can you escape from this room? Will you jump from one of those windows and fall a hundred feet? Will your lover find a ladder long enough to reach you? I think not. Can you break that lock? I think not. Will you bribe your jailer? I think not; for I shall be your jailer myself. No one else shall enter this room. And now listen to me,” and taking a chair, he sat down before her, and said in a hard, harsh voice, “I do not care one jot for all the miserable, contemptible love sentiment in the world; I never did! I do not believe in it. I never did! But that which I want, and that which I will have, is the union of these two joining estates, Mount Calm and Hemlock Hollow. That project is as dear to old Mr. Hardcastle as it is to me. It was for that reason, and not upon account of any trifling, mutual predilection of yours, that we were about to negotiate a marriage between my daughter and his nephew, when fortunately Lionel came home in time to arrest the execution of the plan; of course it was perfectly easy to see what then became the duty of all parties.” “Fidelity,” said Elsie in a low voice. General Garnet laughed tauntingly, and continued without further notice of her reply: “The young man who was to inherit the estate was to have the bride. It mattered nothing to me whether that were Magnus or Lionel; but the hand of my heiress was to be bestowed upon the heir of Hemlock Hollow. That was the treaty. So I reminded old Mr. Hardcastle. He remembered that it really was so, and fully and entirely agreed with me. Young Lionel Hardcastle is also conformable. You only are contumacious. But I have pledged myself to your consent, and, by Heaven, you shall redeem my pledge. Listen, minion! You never leave this room until you leave it as the wife of Lionel Hardcastle. Curious place for a marriage ceremony! but, come, it does not matter; we can have the wedding afterward. You were to be the wife of Dr. Hardcastle, as you very respectfully call him, on Thursday week. Ha! ha! ha! Come, what do you think of your prospects of marrying him now?”