“‘Well, my dear father?’
“‘Well, Elfrida, he loves you, and you know it. You love him, and he knows it. You are both dying for each other, and I know that.’
“‘Well, my dear father?’ I said again.
“‘Have pity on him and on yourself, and accept his suit.’
“‘But, my past—my past—which I can never tell him—never! I could die first.’
“‘Elfrida, do you believe your father to be a man of honor?’ he inquired, for the third time.
“‘Dear sir, how can you ask me? I have said, “a man of indubitable honor,”’ I replied.
“‘Very well, then. On the truth of a man, on the honor of a peer, on the faith of a Christian, I swear to you, Elfrida, that you may marry Force without telling him one word of your past trouble,’ he said to me, so solemnly that I could not question him. I could only receive his words on the high and sacred ground on which he had spoken them.
“Oh, Abel! was I wrong?
“‘I am now going to send Force to see you,’ he repeated, as he left the room.