“But you have not married Carver yet?  Say quick!  Why keep me waiting so?”

“Of course I have not, Master Ridd.  Should I be here if I had, think you, and allowing you to like me so, and to hold my hand, and make me laugh, as I declare you almost do sometimes?  And at other times you frighten me.”

“Did they want you to marry Carver?  Tell me all the truth of it.”

“Not yet, not yet.  They are not half so impetuous as you are, John.  I am only just seventeen, you know, and who is to think of marrying?  But they wanted me to give my word, and be formally betrothed to him in the presence of my grandfather.  It seems that something frightened them.  There is a youth named Charleworth Doone, every one calls him ‘Charlie’; a headstrong and a gay young man, very gallant in his looks and manner; and my uncle, the Counsellor, chose to fancy that Charlie looked at me too much, coming by my grandfather’s cottage.”

Here Lorna blushed so that I was frightened, and began to hate this Charlie more, a great deal more, than even Carver Doone.

“He had better not,” said I; “I will fling him over it, if he dare.  He shall see thee through the roof, Lorna, if at all he see thee.”

“Master Ridd, you are worse than Carver!  I thought you were so kind-hearted.  Well, they wanted me to promise, and even to swear a solemn oath (a thing I have never done in my life) that I would wed my eldest cousin, this same Carver Doone, who is twice as old as I am, being thirty-five and upwards.  That was why I gave the token that I wished to see you, Master Ridd.  They pointed out how much it was for the peace of all the family, and for mine own benefit; but I would not listen for a moment, though the Counsellor was most eloquent, and my grandfather begged me to consider, and Carver smiled his pleasantest, which is a truly frightful thing.  Then both he and his crafty father were for using force with me; but Sir Ensor would not hear of it; and they have put off that extreme until he shall be past its knowledge, or, at least, beyond preventing it.  And now I am watched, and spied, and followed, and half my little liberty seems to be taken from me.  I could not be here speaking with you, even in my own nook and refuge, but for the aid, and skill, and courage of dear little Gwenny Carfax.  She is now my chief reliance, and through her alone I hope to baffle all my enemies, since others have forsaken me.”

Tears of sorrow and reproach were lurking in her soft dark eyes, until in fewest words I told her that my seeming negligence was nothing but my bitter loss and wretched absence far away; of which I had so vainly striven to give any tidings without danger to her.  When she heard all this, and saw what I had brought from London (which was nothing less than a ring of pearls with a sapphire in the midst of them, as pretty as could well be found), she let the gentle tears flow fast, and came and sat so close beside me, that