"Did she never, then—never suffer him even to take her hand?"
"Never. Do not think so meanly of her as to suppose that she could be caught by a fair face, a graceful manner. Reflect: just before she had refused, for your sake, Ashleigh Sumner, whom Lady Haughton said 'no girl in her senses could refuse;' and this change in Lilian really began before we returned to L——,—before she had even seen Mr. Margrave. I am convinced it is something in the reach of your skill as physician,—it is on the nerves, the system. I will give you a proof of what I say, only do not betray me to her. It was during your imprisonment, the night before your release, that I was awakened by her coming to my bedside. She was sobbing as if her heart would break. 'O mother, mother!' she cried, 'pity me, help me! I am so wretched.' 'What is the matter, darling?' 'I have been so cruel to Allen, and I know I shall be so again. I cannot help it. Do not question me; only if we are separated, if he cast me off, or I reject him, tell him some day perhaps when I am in my grave—not to believe appearances; and that I, in my heart of hearts, never ceased to love him!'"
"She said that! You are not deceiving me?"
"Oh, no! how can you think so?"
"There is hope still," I murmured; and I bowed my head upon my hands, hot tears forcing their way through the clasped fingers.
"One word more," said I; "you tell me that Lilian has a repugnance to this Margrave, and yet that she found comfort in his visits,—a comfort that could not be wholly ascribed to cheering words he might say about myself, since it is all but certain that I was not, at that time, uppermost in her mind. Can you explain this apparent contradiction?"
"I cannot, otherwise than by a conjecture which you would ridicule."
"I can ridicule nothing now. What is your conjecture?"
"I know how much you disbelieve in the stories one hears of animal magnetism and electro-biology, otherwise—"
"You think that Margrave exercises some power of that kind over Lilian?
Has he spoken of such a power?"