"You will never defy your mother," said Hannah.
"Oh, no! oh, no! I should be frightened to death," gasped Nora, trembling between weakness and fear.
"No, I will never defy my mother; there are other ways of doing things; I must marry Nora, and we must keep the affair quiet for a time."
"I do not understand you," said Hannah coldly.
"Nora does, though! Do you not, my darling?" exclaimed Herman triumphantly.
And the blushing but joyous face of Nora answered him.
"You say you will not defy your mother. Do you mean then to deceive her, Mr. Brudenell?" inquired the elder sister severely.
"Hannah, don't be abusive! This is just the whole matter, in brief. I am twenty-one, master of myself and my estate. I could marry Nora at any time, openly, without my mother's consent. But that would give her great pain. It would not kill her, nor make her ill, but it would wound her in her tenderest points—her love of her son, and her love of rank; it would produce an open rupture between us. She would never forgive me, nor acknowledge my wife."
"Then why do you speak at all of marrying Nora?" interrupted Hannah angrily.
Herman turned and looked at Nora. That mute look was his only answer, and it was eloquent; it said plainly what his lips forbore to speak: "I have won her love, and I ought to marry her; for if I do not, she will die."