“And who else should I mean?  He is not worth a single iota, and what is more, he is never like to be.”

“True, he is not rich, but he is industrious, and with his excellent habits I have no fears on that account.”

“Oh, you have not, have you,” said her father, almost fiercely, “but I tell you Miss, it will never do, so you may think the matter over at your leisure, and settle the affair, I hope, without any farther interference on my part.”

She raised her eyes timidly to her father’s and said,

“I think, sir, you will be obliged to finish the work if it is ever done; my faith is plighted to William, and you know, father, I cannot break my word.”

This candid avowal but added “fuel to the flame” of the enraged father, and he sternly said,

“My commands are upon you, and I expect you to obey me.”

“But father,” began the trembling girl,

“There is no but in the case.  But I will leave you now, for I see your milk and water looking gentleman is coming, and I expect, Hannah, it will be the last time his shadow will ever darken my doors.”

As he passed out at one door the young man entered at the opposite, and fixed his handsome eyes, with a searching glance, upon Hannah, as he gave her his cordial greeting, saying,

“Are you ill?”

“O no, William, I am not ill, but let us walk out into the garden; perhaps the cool winds of heaven will cool the fever upon my brow.”

And so they wandered forth among the flowers, to breathe the air that comes alike to the children of affluence and pinching want.  They reached a seat where they had spent many happy hours, over which climbing honeysuckles shed their perfume, and many bright flowers danced in the wind, or drank the pure dews of night as the pitying angel wept upon their bosoms.  Hannah was upon her accustomed seat, and the eyes of her lover were fixed upon her with that fond expression she so well understood, and which found a ready response in her youthful heart.  Now that heart was almost bursting with its agony of grief; but William was beside her, whispered words of tenderness and hope were murmured in her ear, and how could she break the spell? how could she speak of the gathering storm?  The commands of a stern father were upon her, and she knew his indomitable spirit would never swerve one inch from his determination.

They sat till the family clock struck nine ere Hannah could muster courage to announce her father’s decision, and related the conversation that had just occurred.  William was perfectly astonished, as he replied,

“You certainly cannot yield to his commands?  Hannah, the happiness of my life depends upon our union.”

“Well, we will keep quiet a while and see what further light we can get upon the subject.  I have a fearful foreboding that the haughty, stern looking stranger who has been here so much of late, has something to do with it.  He has been officious in his attention to me, and I have trembled when I have seen his savage eyes fixed upon, me with such a peculiar expression.  And so we will be quiet and wait the moving of the waters.”