"I will not," replied Juliet, in a low and agitated tone; "I will never refuse you that which you have every right to ask, and I know you will never ask anything but what is right. Wait one moment. Let me speak a word to Lord Clavering, and I will be back."
She took a step or two forward, to the group of persons who apparently had gone on in order not to interrupt a conversation which all must have seen was one of no slight interest; and for about a minute Morley remained, gazing down upon the ground, with thoughts and feelings agitated almost to madness. He now learned, with agony, how different is love and passion, as his heart was torn between the ties that chained him to Veronica, and the higher attachment that bound him to Juliet Carr. He might have stood there for an hour, swallowed up in his own sensations, had not Juliet returned, saying, in a low and tender voice--"Now, Morley--now!"
She led the way, and he followed, to the saloon upon the first floor, where her party had been waiting till the carriages were ready, and there she paused, supporting herself with her hand upon one of the tables, and gazing with her tender, speaking eyes, upon Morley's face. with a look almost approaching to apprehension.
"Juliet!" he said, after a moment's hesitation--"Juliet! you owe me some explanation. Let me know whether you are sporting with a heart that loves you, for your own gratification, or at the dictates of others?"
"Oh, Morley!" she exclaimed, her eyes filling with tears; "do I hear such words from you? Are you not sure--do you not see, that I am as wretched as you can be?"
"Then why, Juliet--why?" he demanded; "what is the obstacle? What is the motive that should make you not only cast away your happiness, but mine--mine, which was trusted entirely to your keeping, with the most boundless confidence? If you can assign no motive, I claim you as my own, by every tie, by every right--"
"Nay, nay," she said--"not so, Morley! I conceal not that I love you deeply, truly; but it must be told--I am bound, Morley, by an oath, I am bound, by a promise which I cannot, which I dare not break, and must fulfil to the letter, though it condemns me to sorrow and despair through life!"
"Juliet," replied her lover, in a tone now calm, but calm with despair--"I one time fancied that you would be my guardian angel; that you would form my blessing; that you would be the light of my home, the guide of my footsteps; would cure me of all that was weak or wrong in my nature; would prove at once my safeguard and my happiness. How have I deceived myself! You have taken from me peace; you have deprived me of hope; you leave me without object or expectation in life; you withdraw from me all motive for virtue; you plunge me into degradation and vice!"
Juliet had turned very pale, and trembled as Morley spoke; but as he went on to tell her too truly the state of mind to which he was reduced, and the peril in which he stood, agitation overcame all habits; she sank upon her knees before him, and clasped his hand eagerly.
"Oh, no!" she cried, "oh, no!--I am very, very miserable! Morley, save me from that despair--save me from the dreadful thought that I have debased as fine a spirit as ever God sent for trial on this earth. Morley--dear Morley, believe that I am not in fault; and oh, in pity, if ever you loved Juliet Carr, yield not to evil, but conquer it, as we are told to do, with good!--Have compassion upon me, Morley, and do not, in addition to all the wretchedness that has fallen upon my head--in addition to the bitter, the everlasting disappointment of my first and only affections--do not give me the undying agony of thinking that he whom I have ever loved has cast away his fair name, and blasted his heart and spirit with evil, on account of this our sorrow. Promise me, Morley--promise me, at least, to try--promise to resist to the utmost. Nay, nay, I will kneel here till you do promise; I will kneel--I will die, Morley, at your feet, sooner than that you should leave me with such thoughts and purposes as you but now entertained. Will you--will you promise me? When this poor heart is broken, you will then believe and understand all that I feel--nay, strive not to raise me, unless you give me that promise."