290 THE SMUGGLER. 



distinct thought, "but his having mistaken me must not make 

 me give that consent when it is wrong. Were it myself alone, 

 I would sacrifice all for him; I could but die; a few hours oi 

 misery are not much to bear: I have borne many. But I am 

 bound. Good God! what an alternative 1" 



But I will not follow her thoughts : they can easily be con- 

 ceived. She was left alone, with no one to counsel, with no 

 one to aid her. The fatal secret she possessed was a bar to 

 asking advice from any one. Buried in her own bosom, the 

 causes of her conduct, the motives upon which she acted, must 

 ever be secret, whatever course she pursued. Agony was on 

 either hand. She had to choose between two terrible alterna- 

 tives: on the one hand a breach of all her engagements, a 

 few years, a few weeks, perhaps, of misery, and an early 

 death, for such she knew must be her fate : and, on the other, 

 a life, with love certainly to cheer it, but poisoned by the 

 remembrance that she had sacrificed her father. Yet Edith 

 now thought firmly, weighed, considered all. 



She could come to no determination. Between two such 

 gulfs, she shrank trembling from either. 



The clock in the hall, with its clear, sharp bell, struck 

 three; and the moment after, the quick sound of horse's feet 

 was "heard. "Can it be my father?" she thought. "No! 

 he has not had time, unless he has doubted;" but while she 

 asked herself the question, the horses stopped at the door, the 

 bell rang, and she went on to say to herself: ' Perhaps it is 

 Zara. That would be a comfort, indeed, though I cannot tell 

 her; I must not tell her all." 



The old Hindoo opened the door, saying, "Missy, a gentle- 

 man want to see you : very fine gentleman." 



Edith could not speak; but she bowed her head, and the 

 servant, receiving that token as assent, turned to some one 

 behind him and said, " Walk in, sir." 



For a moment or two Edith did not raise her eyes, and her 

 lips moved. She heard a step in the room that made her 

 heart flutter; she heard the door shut, but yet for an instant 

 she remained with her head bent, and her hands clasped to- 

 gether. Then she looked up. Standing before her, and 

 gazing intently upon her, was a tall handsome man, dressed in 

 the splendid uniform of the dragoons of that time, and with a 

 star upon his left breast: a decoration worn by persons who 



