"As I have told you," he replied, his heart thrilling again at her utterance of his Christian name for the _first_ time. "Well--I am rich--all _I_ have is yours; I am my own mistress, and mamma loves me too well, and you also, to thwart our wishes." "Darling Aurelia--it is incredible--that--that----" Roland knew not what he was about to say, so solved the difficulty with a long caress, from which Aurelia suddenly started back, as she now perceived they had a listener. Unseen by both, Colonel Ithuriel Smash had been standing in the archway of the outer drawing-room, with a curiously malignant expression on his very marked visage, for he had evidently overheard and overseen the whole interview. His presence occasionally at the Château de St. Eustache was only tolerated by Madame Darnel because he was penniless, his store in 75th Avenue having been sold up; and now he was fostering, on the strength of a very remote relationship, some very bold views with regard to Aurelia. "Jerusalem, apple-sauce, and earthquakes, my young Britisher, but you make yourself quite at home in the house of my kinsman!" exclaimed the Colonel, who had concocted an effervescing drink in a long tumbler, and was leisurely stirring it with the jack-knife used by him for cutting his pig-tail tobacco; "I wonder blood has not been shed about you before this, Miss Aurelia Darnel." "Blood!" exclaimed Roland, swelling with indignation. "Jerusalem! but it may be shed soon." "But, that I am under orders for Chambly to-morrow, I might condescend to punish your insolence and your daring intrusion!" Roland pressed the hand of Aurelia again, and in doing so deftly slipped a ring upon her engaged finger; he then kissed her deliberately and withdrew (just as the servants came in with lights), exchanging with Smash one of those unmistakable glances that is expressive of--and rivets for life--a hate that dies not, fired by the secret instinct of mutual enmity; yet Roland despised himself for having a foe so ignoble. That night, without delaying an hour, Colonel Ithuriel Smash took his departure in the direction of _Chambly_! Of so little importance had his presence been, that Aurelia never missed him as she sat alone, in a dream of joy that was not unclouded with anxiety for the cause of Roland's departure, and yet it was that event which brought the joy to pass, by laying bare the secret heart of each. So the girl smiled fondly to herself, as she gazed at and kissed again and again her engagement-ring; and it seemed as if her former life had passed away and a new one of greater sunshine and brightness had begun; and long she sat there looking dreamily at the lovely moon (shining over the spires of Montreal), round as the shield of Fingal, her sweet face wreathed with smiles that no eyes could see, unless they were those of the old man who dwelleth therein. CHAPTER VIII. THE INSURRECTION.