“No, to say the truth, it was at discovering a mistake of mine. I had fancied ‘the Ferns’ had been the future home which you had selected,” was his reply. “Oh!” said Victoria, coloring and laughing, “that was your guess, was it? I wonder at your want of penetration. If this had been my future home, I should not have been visiting here now, and you must have seen――oh, by the way, Charles was not here before, so you have _not_ seen any thing. But Hilary did not tell you that, did she?” “Miss Duncan mentioned no names to me,” said he; “she only informed me to-day, that you were to be united to a countryman of ours.” “Oh, Hilary, of all people, has reason to know better; for though I never mentioned Mr. Legh by name to her, she knew Charles was not my _futur_. Perhaps if you had seen them together, you would have known it too.” “Seen who together?” asked Captain Hepburn, with a countenance of extreme self-command, which baffled, by its quietness, the scrutiny of Victoria’s bright eyes. “My cousin and Miss Duncan! She will not engage herself at present, because of her father and sisters; she devotes herself to them; but that kind of thing will not last forever; and though one has no right to speculate on a young lady’s feelings, in spite of her saying _no_, I suspect Charles’s constancy is making way with her, and will meet with its reward in time. Meantime, I say nothing to her on the topic.” Captain Hepburn was a brave man, one who had met peril unflinchingly, and dared death in a good cause. His nerves were under perfect control; and one reason, probably, of the influence he exercised over those about him, was that he had learned, before commanding others, to command himself. Whatever his feelings were on hearing this declaration from his companion, he betrayed none of them; and after a little pause, he asked, in a quiet tone, devoid of all trace of emotion, “Do you mean that Miss Duncan refused your cousin, when he offered his hand?” “Yes; but that was nearly a year ago, and there has been, I suspect and hope, a gradual change working since that. She was very young then, and had never thought of marrying, and her father’s blindness was just ascertained, and was a great shock to her, so she thought she should never leave him, and would not listen to Charles; but he is very persevering and patient――quite a model of a lover; and as her sisters get old enough to take her place, and other feelings for other people arise, she will retract. As to my cousin, he, I am sure, will never change.”