“No, sir.”
“My dear child, do you not consider me your best friend?”
“Certainly I do.”
“Then yield to my guidance, and follow my advice. Lose no time in writing to Mr. Granville, and cancel your engagement. Tell him he is free.”
“Oh, then I should lose him,—and happiness, forever!” wailed Muriel, clasping her hands almost despairingly.
“You have already lost his heart, and should be unwilling to retain him in fetters that must be galling.”
“Ah, Dr. Grey! it is very easy for you who never loved any one, to tell me, in that cold, business-like way, that I ought to set Gerard free; but you cannot realize what it costs to follow your counsel. Of course I know that in everything else you are much wiser than I, but persons who have no love affairs of their own are not the best judges of other people’s. He is so 396 dear to me, I believe it would kill me to give him up, and see him no more.”
“On the contrary, you would survive much greater misfortune than separation from a man who is unworthy of you. I cannot coerce, but simply counsel you in this matter, and should be glad to learn what your own decision is. Do you intend to wait until Gerard Granville explicitly requests you to release him from his engagement?”
She winced, and the tears gushed anew.
“Oh, you are cruel! You are heartless!”