“What?” exclaimed she, looking eagerly at him.
“Never mind!”
“What makes you talk of it, Maurice?” said she, after a moment’s reflection.
“He told me himself, the day of your accident; he spoke then of his love for you. I wondered I had never seen it before; but I had fancied him engaged to Miss Fielding. It is natural he should love, more than that you should not. Are you sure of that?”
“Perfectly so, and so is he. If he persists in loving me, it is at his own cost; it never will be returned. I have long wished him to give it up; and like you, once thought it was going away. Till Sunday, I believed him engaged to Victoria! Did he really tell you he had not changed?”
“Yes, and he was most emphatic in his expressions!” replied Maurice.
“I am sure Mr. Barham wishes him for a son-in-law; and Isabel would suit him so perfectly. I wish he would think so too,” continued Hilary, speaking slowly and thoughtfully. “I wish he would; I should be so glad.”
“And do you still mean never to marry, Hilary?” said her brother, turning and looking gravely in her eyes. “Do you keep unchanged?”
“Leave the future, Maurice,” was her quiet answer. “I never mean to marry Mr. Huyton, nor will I leave my father for any man now living.”
The brother and sister parted for the night, after lingering long; for Hilary, tired as she was, could scarcely bear to shorten the few hours which they might yet have to spend together.