"I do!" she cried with a bright flush. "Is there dishonour in such a love?"
"Ay, to the dead!"
"Tush! You know not of what you speak, sir. I have not made you my father confessor. I love this man. What have you to say against it? He is handsome, he is a gentleman, he is of a noble nature."
"I grant all that, but----"
"Make no objections, Mr. Jarner, for they carry no weight with me. I love now as I never loved before. You smile! You think I am too old to set my heart on him, but I tell you that I love this man fondly, and I shall marry him."
"Marry him!"
"Why not?" said she, pressing her hands on her heaving breast. "Do you know anything against him?"
"No, indeed; still----"
"Then there can be no obstacle to my union with him. He is poor, but I am rich. If he has no name of his own, he can take mine. What obstacle is there to our union?"
"The greatest of all," answered Jarner, dryly; "he loves another woman."