The dinner passed off quietly. Sir Murray Gernon, who prided himself upon his birth, lineage, and wealth, taking matters in a courtly manner, considering that it would be unbecoming, even upon the evening preceding his marriage, to forget his dignity. Hence there was a something that seemed almost verging upon coldness in his farewell that night, even when he whispered the words, "Till to-morrow, dearest." There was no apparent ardour, although he was, certainly, contented and proud; and he rode home that night at a very respectable hour, telling himself that he was one of the happiest men in the kingdom. When Marion was once more alone with her cousin, the emotion, crushed down, hidden beneath a mask of cheerfulness, asserted itself in a way that alarmed even herself: sobs and hysterical cries seeming to tear themselves from her breast, to be succeeded, though, at last by a calm, as, evidently by a great effort, she overcame the weakness to which she had given way. "Don't be angry, Ada!" cried the agitated girl, as she clung to her friend. "I am very--very weak, I know; but to-morrow I must be strong, and put weakness aside. To-night, I feel that if I did not give way, my agony would be greater than I could bear. I cannot dissimulate!" she exclaimed, passionately. "I do not love this man as I should; he is cold and haughty, and does not try to make me love him. I have tried-- tried hard, for they have set their mind upon it, and what can I do? But the old, old love will come back, and I seem to see poor Philip beckoning to me from the other side of the great black gulf, calling me, as it were, to him; and to go on with this--to keep faith to-morrow, is like being false, when I recall all my vows made before he went away." "But, Marion, darling," exclaimed Ada, "does not death solve all those ties? Come, dear, be tranquil, and do not give way to all this weakness. You do not do Sir Murray justice: he is proud and haughty; but look at the pride he has in you. There!" she cried, "I shall be glad when to-morrow is here, and the wooing ended by the wedding. I will not say, fight back all these sad memories, because I know you have tried; but pray, pray think of duty, of what you owe to your betrothed, as well as to your parents. Come, to bed--to bed, or I shall be blamed for the sad, pale face that will be under the orange blossoms to-morrow." "Do you think the dead have power to influence us, Ada?" said Marion, who had sat with her hair pressed back from her temples, and had not apparently heard a word her cousin had said. "The dead!--influence!" said Ada, looking almost with fear in her companion's face. "Yes, influence us; for it seems as if Philip were ever present with me, drawing me, as it were, to him, and reproaching me for my want of faith. Shall I always feel this?--always be haunted by his spirit, unseen but by myself? Ada, do you believe in foresight--in a knowledge of what is to be?"