‘I am sure we always loved each other, Plantagenet.’

‘Yes! but not with this love; not as I love you now!’

Venetia stared.

’I thought we could not love each other more than we did, Plantagenet,’ at length she said.  ’Do you remember the jewel that you gave me?  I always wore it until you seemed to forget us, and then I thought it looked so foolish!  You remember what is inscribed on it:  ‘To Venetia, from her affectionate brother, plantagenet.’  And as a brother I always loved you; had I indeed been your sister I could not have loved you more warmly and more truly.’

’I am not your brother, Venetia; I wish not to be loved as a brother:  and yet I must be loved by you, or I shall die.’

‘What then do you wish?’ inquired Venetia, with great simplicity.

‘I wish you to marry me,’ replied Lord Cadurcis.

‘Marry!’ exclaimed Venetia, with a face of wonder.  ’Marry!  Marry you!  Marry you, Plantagenet!’

’Ay! is that so wonderful?  I love you, and if you love me, why should we not marry?’

Venetia was silent and looked upon the ground, not from agitation, for she was quite calm, but in thought; and then she said, ’I never thought of marriage in my life, Plantagenet; I have no intention, no wish to marry; I mean to live always with mamma.’

’And you shall always live with mamma, but that need not prevent you from marrying me,’ he replied.  ’Do not we all live together now?  What will it signify if you dwell at Cadurcis and Lady Annabel at Cherbury?  Is it not one home?  But at any rate, this point shall not be an obstacle; for if it please you we will all live at Cherbury.’

’You say that we are happy now, Plantagenet; oh! let us remain as we are.’

’My own sweet girl, my sister, if you please, any title, so it be one of fondness, your sweet simplicity charms me; but, believe me, it cannot be as you wish; we cannot remain as we are unless we marry.’

‘Why not?’

’Because I shall be wretched and must live elsewhere, if indeed I can live at all.’

’Oh, Plantagenet! indeed I thought you were my brother; when I found you after so long a separation as kind as in old days, and kinder still, I was so glad; I was so sure you loved me; I thought I had the kindest brother in the world.  Let us not talk of any other love.  It will, indeed it will, make mamma so miserable!’

‘I am greatly mistaken,’ replied Lord Cadurcis, who saw no obstacles to his hopes in their conversation hitherto, ’if, on the contrary, our union would not prove far from disagreeable to your mother, Venetia; I will say our mother, for indeed to me she has been one.’

‘Plantagenet,’ said Venetia, in a very earnest tone, ’I love you very much; but, if you love me, press me on this subject no more at present.  You have surprised, indeed you have bewildered me.  There are thoughts, there are feelings, there are considerations, that must be respected, that must influence me.  Nay! do not look so sorrowful, Plantagenet.  Let us be happy now.  To-morrow, only to-morrow, and to-morrow we are sure to meet, we will speak further of all this; but now, now, for a moment let us forget it, if we can forget anything so strange.  Nay! you shall smile!’