“You used to let me call you so.”

“Never!  Once or twice, when you have done so, I have not forbidden it, as I should have done.  Very well, sir, as you have nothing to tell me, I will leave you.  I must confess that I did not think you were such a coward.”  And she prepared to go, gathering up the skirts of her habit, and taking up the whip which she had laid on the window-sill.

“Stay a moment, Alexandrina,” he said; “I am not happy, and you should not say words intended to make me more miserable.”

“And why are you unhappy?”

“Because—­ I will tell you instantly, if I may believe that I am telling you only, and not the whole household.”

“Of course I shall not talk of it to others.  Do you think that I cannot keep a secret?”

“It is because I have promised to marry one woman, and because I love another.  I have told you everything now; and if you choose to say again that I am fighting under false colours I will leave the castle before you can see me again.”

“Mr Crosbie!”

“Now you know it all, and may imagine whether or no I am very happy.  I think you said it was time to dress;—­suppose we go?” And without further speech the two went off to their separate rooms.

Crosbie, as soon as he was alone in his chamber, sat himself down in his arm-chair, and went to work striving to make up his mind as to his future conduct.  It must not be supposed that the declaration just made by him had been produced solely by his difficulty at the moment.  The atmosphere of Courcy Castle had been at work upon him for the last week past.  And every word that he had heard, and every word that he had spoken, had tended to destroy all that was good and true within him, and to foster all that was selfish and false.  He had said to himself a dozen times during that week that he never could be happy with Lily Dale, and that he never could make her happy.  And then he had used the old sophistry in his endeavour to teach himself that it was right to do that which he wished to do.  Would it not be better for Lily that he should desert her, than marry her against the dictates of his own heart?  And if he really did not love her, would he not be committing a greater crime in marrying her than in deserting her?  He confessed to himself that he had been very wrong in allowing the outer world to get such a hold upon him that the love of a pure girl like Lily could not suffice for his happiness.  But there was the fact, and he found himself unable to contend against it.  If by any absolute self-sacrifice he could secure Lily’s well-being, he would not hesitate for a moment.  But would it be well to sacrifice her as well as himself?

He had discussed the matter in this way within his own breast, till he had almost taught himself to believe that it was his duty to break off his engagement with Lily; and he had also almost taught himself to believe that a marriage with a daughter of the house of Courcy, would satisfy his ambition and assist him in his battle with the world.  That Lady Alexandrina would accept him he felt certain, if he could only induce her to forgive him for his sin in becoming engaged to Miss Dale.  How very prone she would be to forgiveness in this matter, he had not divined, having not as yet learned how easily such a woman can forgive such a sin, if the ultimate triumph be accorded to herself.