“By making you my wife,” he answered. “It all rests with you, Miss Aneth. I alone can protect Lord Roane from any possibility of discovery, and I will do so if you now promise to marry me. More than that, I will pay off all the mortgages on your grandfather’s estates, so that he may live in comfort during the remainder of his life, honored and respected by all. And you shall have your father’s note of hand for the ten thousand pounds as soon as I receive your promise, as an earnest of my good faith.”
“And if I refuse?” she suggested, trembling.
“Then you render me powerless to aid, and plunge your aged grandfather into prison, disgraced and humiliated beyond any hope of redemption.”
“No, no! I cannot do that,” she wailed, miserably. “He has been so good to me and loved me so fondly that I dare not—I will not—sacrifice him to secure my own happiness!”
“It is as I hoped,” said Kāra, a note of triumph in his voice. “Do you promise, sacredly and on your honor, that you will marry me in return for my shielding your grandfather from the consequences of his crime?”
“Yes,” she answered, clasping her hands with a shudder.
“And you will come to me any day and hour that I may appoint?”
“Yes.”
“Aneth! Aneth! what have you said? What have you done?” cried Mrs. Everingham, running from her hiding-place to clasp the terrified girl in her arms.
“What have I done?” repeated Aneth, vacantly. “Why, Lola, I have saved my dear grandfather from disgrace and ruin.”