Lenora wept in silence.  Her lover’s eloquence had extinguished every spark of her pride; and the rebellious heart which so lately was ready to cast off its rosy fetters had no longer a place for any thing but love and sadness.  Gustave saw that he had conquered.

“I go, Lenora,” said he, “strong in your affection.  I quit my country and my loved one with a confident hope.  Whatever may happen to me, I will never be downcast.  You will think of me daily, Lenora, will you not?”

“Alas!  I have promised my father that I will forget you!” sobbed the maiden, as her hand trembled in his.

“Forget me!” exclaimed Gustave. “Can you force yourself to forget me?”

“No, Gustave; NO!” said she, firmly, fixing her large eyes on him with an intense and lingering gaze.  “No:  for the first time in my life I will disobey my father.  I feel that I have net the strength to keep my idle word.  I cannot forget you:  till the last hour of my life I will love you; for it is my fate, and I cannot resist.”

“Thanks, thanks, a thousand thanks, Lenora!” exclaimed Gustave, in a transport.  “Thy tender love strengthens me against destiny.  Beloved of my heart, rest here under the guardian eye of God.  Thy image will follow me in my journey like a protecting angel; in joy and grief, by day and night, in health and sickness, thou, Lenora, wilt ever be present to me!  This cruel separation wounds my heart beyond expression; but duty commands, and I must obey.  Farewell, farewell!”

He wrung her hands convulsively, and was gone.

“Gustave!” sobbed the poor girl, as she sank on the chair and allowed the pent-up passion of her soul to burst forth in tears.

CHAPTER VII.

Leonora secretly cherished in her heart the hope of a happy future; but she did not hesitate to inform her father of Gustave’s visit.  De Vlierbeck heard her listlessly, and gave no other reply but a bitter smile.

From that day Grinselhof became sadder and more solitary than ever.  The old gentleman might generally be seen seated in an arm-chair, resting his forehead on his hand, while his eyes were fixed on the ground or on vacancy.  The fatal day on which the bond fell due was perhaps always present to his mind; nor could he banish the thought of that frightful misery into which it would plunge his child and himself.  Lenora carefully concealed her own sufferings in order not to increase her father’s grief; and, although she fully sympathized with him, no effort was omitted on her part to cheer the old man by apparent contentment.  She did and said every thing that her tender heart could invent to arouse the sufferer from his reveries; but all her efforts were in vain:  her father thanked her with a smile and caress; but the smile was sad, the caress constrained and feeble.