Lady Florence heard, and her whole form seemed changed,—she was no longer the majestic sibyl, but the attached, timorous, delighted woman.
It so happened that in her confusion she dropped from her hand the flower Maltravers had given her, and involuntarily glad of a pretext to conceal her countenance, she stooped to take it from the ground. In so doing, a letter fell from her bosom—and Maltravers, as he bent forwards to forestall her own movement, saw that the direction was to himself, and in the handwriting of his unknown correspondent. He seized the letter, and gazed in flattered and entranced astonishment, first on the writing, next on the detected writer. Florence grew deadly pale, and covering her face with her hands, burst into tears.
"O fool that I was," cried Ernest, in the passion of the moment, "not to know—not to have felt that there were not two Florences in the world! But if the thought had crossed me, I would not have dared to harbour it."
"Go, go," sobbed Florence; "leave me, in mercy leave me!"
"Not till you bid me rise," said Ernest, in emotion scarcely less deep than hers, as he sank on his knee at her feet.
Need I go on?—When they left that spot, a soft confession had been made—deep vows interchanged, and Ernest Maltravers was the accepted suitor of Florence Lascelles.
CHAPTER III.
"A hundred fathers would in my situation tell you that, as
you are of noble extraction, you should marry a nobleman.
But I do not say so. I will not sacrifice my child to any
prejudice."
KOTZEBUE. /Lover's Vows/.
"Take heed, my lord; the welfare of us all
Hangs on the cutting short that fraudful man."
SHAKSPEARE. /Henry VI./
"Oh, how this spring of love resembleth
Th' uncertain glory of an April day;
Which now shows all the beauty of the sun,
And by and by a cloud takes all away!"
SHAKSPEARE. /The Two Gentlemen of Verona/.