"No, nor the second, nor the third. We have been attached since Kate brought me to Leigh; and before William went to sea, there scarcely passed a day but we met somewhere."
"And I have been away two years!" said Cornelius, in a low tone. "Not a day but you met somewhere!"
"Yes, on the downs, or on the beach, where you found me last night, and where I had promised to meet him this morning."
Cornelius turned on me with flashing eyes.
"Unhappy child!" he exclaimed, "what do you mean by telling me all this? What have you been doing in my absence? What sort of a watch has Kate kept over the young girl I left to her care? What sense of honour has he who took so shameless an advantage of your ignorance, but who shall account to me for it yet?"
He rose; his brow was stern; his face was pale. Half wild with terror, I threw my arms around his neck, and detained him.
"It was my fault!" I exclaimed, eagerly; "all my fault—resent it upon me."
"And what can I do to you?" answered Cornelius, looking down at me with strange anger and tenderness in his gaze; "what can I do to you?"
"Hear me," I entreated, weeping.
He sat down again, subdued at once by the sight of my tears, and said he would listen patiently.