“Harry I indeed, I cannot allow you to do this; others must surely have claims upon you.”
“There is not a being in the world who has a right to expect a farthing at my death,” answered he; “the next heir to the entailed estates is a distant relation in Scotland, already wealthy. My father has always been a careful man, and, should he lose me, will have a larger income than he can possibly be able to spend; besides, as the duties I have led you to undertake must necessarily prevent you from engaging actively in any profession, I am bound in common fairness to provide for you.”
“Be it so, then,” replied I—inwardly breathing a prayer that I never might possess a sixpence of the promised fortune.
“One thing more,” added Harry. “When you return to Trinity—poor old Trinity, shall I ever visit you again!—find out how Lizzie Maurice is going on, and if she should marry respectably in her own rank, ask my father to give you a hundred pounds as a wedding present for her; only hint that it was my wish, and he would give twenty times the sum. And now good—pshaw!” he continued, drawing his hand across his eyes, “I shall play the woman if I talk to you much more—good-night, Frank—do you accompany us to the ground to-morrow morning?”
“I will go with you,” returned I, with difficulty overcoming a choking sensation in my throat; “I may be able to be of some use.”
“Here comes Archer,” said Oaklands, “so once more good-night; I must get home, or my father will wonder what is become of me.”
My heart was too full to speak, and pressing his hand I turned abruptly away, and walked quickly in the opposite direction.
CHAPTER XXVII — THE DUEL
“The sun begins to gild the western sky,
And now it is about the very hour.
They will not fail,
Unless it be to come before their time;
So much they spur their expedition.”
—Shakspeare.
“Now go thy way: faintness constraineth me
To measure out my length on this cold bed.”
—Shakspeare.
“And me they bore.....
To one deep chamber shut from sound, and due
To languid limbs and sickness.”
—Tennyson's Princess.