Lionel went in again, his feelings undergoing a sort of revulsion, for there now peeped out a glimmer of hope. So long as the nearly certain conviction on Lionel's mind was not confirmed by positive testimony--as he expected Captain Cannonby's would be--he could not entirely lose sight of all hope. That he most fervently prayed the blow might not fall, might even now be averted, you will readily believe. Sibylla had not been to him the wife he had fondly hoped for; she provoked him every hour in the day; she appeared to do what she could, wilfully to estrange his affection. He was conscious of all this; he was all too conscious that his inmost love was another's, not hers. But he lost sight of himself in anxiety for her; it was for her sake he prayed and hoped. Whether she was his wife by law or not; whether she was loved or hated, Lionel's course of duty lay plain before him now--to shield her, so far as he might be allowed, in all care and tenderness. He would have shed his last drop of blood to promote her comfort; he would have sacrificed every feeling of his heart for her sake. The wine in his hand, he turned into the room again. A change had taken place in her aspect. She had left the chair, and was standing against the wall opposite the door, her tears dried, her eyes unnaturally bright, her cheeks burning. "Lionel," she uttered, a catching of the breath betraying her emotion, "if _he_ is alive, whose is Verner's Pride?" "His," replied Lionel, in a low tone. She shrieked out, very much after the manner of a petulant child. "I won't leave it!--I won't leave Verner's Pride! You could not be so cruel as to wish me. Who says he is alive? Lionel, I ask you who it is that says he is alive?" "Hush, my dear! This excitement will do you a world of harm, and it cannot mend the matter, however it may be. I want to know who told you of this, Sibylla. I supposed it to be Cannonby; but Tynn says Cannonby has not been here." The question appeared to divert her thoughts into another channel. "Cannonby! What should bring him here? Did you expect him to come?" "Drink your wine, and then I will tell you," he said, holding the glass towards her. She pushed the wine from her capriciously. "I don't want wine now. I am hot. I should like some water." "I will get it for you directly. Tell me, first of all, how you came to know of this?" "Deborah told me. She sent for me out of the drawing-room where I was so happy, to tell me this horrid tale. Lionel"--sinking her voice again to a whisper--"is--he--here?" "I cannot tell you--" "But you must tell me," she passionately interrupted. "I will know. I have a right to know it, Lionel." "When I say I cannot tell you, Sibylla, I mean that I cannot tell you with any certainty. I will tell you all I do know. Some one is in the neighbourhood who bears a great resemblance to him. He is seen sometimes at night; and--and--I have other testimony that he has returned from Australia."