"Where you will be Lady Heath my Virgie. Ah, I am very thankful that my child will occupy so proud a position in life," said the voice of Mr. Abbot, just behind them.
He had come out to seek them, and had approached just as Sir William uttered those last words.
"Lady Heath!" exclaimed Virgie, starting up and turning a very astonished face first upon one and then the other. "What do you mean? I do not understand."
"Haven't you told her?" Mr. Abbot asked of the young man.
Sir William shook his head, with a smile.
"Told me what, papa?"
"That our friend here is Sir William Heath, of Heathdale, and an English baronet."
Virgie stood in wondering silence for a moment, her face flushed and drooping, while a hundred thoughts flashed through her mind.
Her lover a titled peer of England! This noble man, who might have chosen his wife from the nobility of his own country, had concealed his identity, had buried himself in the wilds of Nevada, and lived like a common miner simply to win her, an humble mountain maiden. He who belonged to an honored race, and possessed both title and wealth, had overlooked the fact that a heavy cloud enshrouded her own and her father's name, and was willing to lift her to the proud position of his wife and the mistress of his beautiful home. These and many other thoughts held her speechless, and made her tremble with something of fear that in the future he might regret it all, and wish that he had never seen her.
"I am afraid I am not fitted—" she at length faltered.