"And the old gentleman at the opposite side of the valley is good as gold, and I should like to oblige him; and sometimes I feel as if it could be done, so far as I am concerned, but for one thing."
"And what is that?"
"Lady Clara, if I had not been fatally in love already, I should by this time have adored you."
The color came and went in the girl's face. She tore a handful of ferns from the rock, and dropped them into the water at her feet; then she lifted her eyes to the young man's face, with the innocent confidence of a child. Her voice was low and timid as she spoke again; but the ring of modest truth was there.
"Lord Hilton, I am very young; but in what you have said, I can see that you and I ought to understand each other. You love another person—I, too, am beloved."
A shade of disappointment swept the young man's features. He had not wished this fair girl to care for him, yet the thought that it was impossible brought a little annoyance with it.
"I have permitted a man to say he loved me, and did not rebuke him; because every word he spoke made my heart leap."
"But will the old countess consent?"
"I thought so—I hoped so, till you startled me with this idea about yourself. Oh! be firm, be firm in hating me. Don't leave the whole battle to a poor little girl."