348 THE MASTER OF THE HOUNDS. 



"Yes, "William, I remember it well — the past is a happy 

 dream, the present a sad reality. I never thought then how 

 different our positions might become ; but still my vow remains 

 unaltered — I will never marry another." 



" To that I cannot, will not hold you, dear Blanche ; take 

 the ring from my finger, and take with it all my hopes of 

 earthly happiness." 



" That I cannot do, William." 



" Then listen to reason, Blanche ; at least, you ought to be 

 consistent. When you placed that ring upon my finger, you 

 were a rich heiress, and I (by Mrs. Harcourt's account) a poor, 

 penniless fox-hunter ; you would have married me then, could I 

 have obtained your guardian's consent." 



" Yes, William, indeed I would." 



" And should I have been degraded in your eyes by accept- 

 ing your hand, although then represented to you without 

 fortune 3 " 



" Oh, no, dearest William ; nothing could ever degrade you 

 in my sight." 



" Our positions now, dear girl, are apparently, but not really 

 reversed, and Blanche Douglas is too proud to make that con- 

 cession she expected of William Beauchamp. Yes, that is the 

 fact. I might and must have been humbled then in your 

 opinion, and now your false sense of honour would trample 

 all my feelings and fondly cherished expectations in the dust." 



" No, William ; the time may arrive when I will no longer 

 oppose your wishes ; but should all be lost to me, I shall ever 

 love and esteem you as my own dear brother." 



" Will nothing change your purpose, Blanche ? Will no 

 feeling of compassion or compunction induce you to avert my 

 doom ? " 



" Do not urge me further, dear William, in pity to my agony 

 of mind and dreadful sufferings these last few days. Oh, spare 

 me the misery of listening to your reproaches, which, believe 

 me, I do not deserve — we may meet again as before — as brother 

 and sister." 



" Never, Blanche, that time is past. Now hear the sentence 

 you have pronounced ; if we part now, we never meet again, for 

 I will leave my native land, and return to it no more, unless 

 this night you promise to be mine." 



" Oh, William, recall that rash vow ; think of your poor 

 father, who would be broken-hearted if you left him ; think of 

 your sister, and dear Aunt Gordon." 



