said he, desperately, "if I were to go out, it
would be as much for your sake as for the sake
of your country; but I hope you would not
scorn my sword for that reason."

Miss Colonna was taken by surprise. She
had never been blind to the young man's
admiration; but, having tacitly discouraged it for so
long, she had taken it for granted that he would
not venture on a declaration. Even now, though
he had spoken words which could bear no other
interpretation, she determined to put the thing
aside, and prevent him, if possible, from speaking
more plainly. And yet her heart stirred
strangely when he called her by her name!

"Yours is almost the only sword we should
decline to enlist on any terms, Lord
Castletowers," she replied, gravely. "You are an
only son, and the last inheritor of a noble name.
Your duties lie here."

"You would not think thus if I were an
Italian?"

"Certainly not. I should then say that your
first duty was to your country."

The Earl came and stood before her, pale and
earnest, and not to be turned from his
purpose.

"Hear me, Olimpia," he said, passionately.
"I love you, and you know that I love you. I
have loved you for more than four years. I will
not say that I have dared to hope. If I had
hoped, I should not, perhaps, have kept silence
so long; but I may have thought that you read
my secret, and that silence might plead for me
more eloquently than words. I know how heavy
the chances are against me—I have weighed
them all, long since. I know that he who would
aspire to your hand must love your Italy as if
he were a son of the soil, must throw in his
fortunes with her fortunes, and deserve you through
his devotion to her cause. I also know that the
man who had done all this would only have
fulfilled those primary conditions without which
the humblest red-shirt in Garibaldi's wake would
stand a better chance than himself. Am I not
right?"

"Perfectly; but——"

"Do not reply yet, I implore you! You say
that I have duties here. It is true; and I am
prepared to fulfil them to the utmost. I will
settle this house and half my income on my
mother for her life. All else that is mine, land,
revenue, strength of body and will, personal
influence, life itself, shall be Italy's. Your country
shall be my country—your people, my people—
your God, my God. Can I say more, except
that I love you? That, deeply and dearly as I
love you now, I believe from my soul I shall
love you better still in years to come. In my
eyes you will never be less young or less
beautiful. Should sorrow or sickness come upon
you, I will do all that man may do to cherish
and comfort you. If you are in peril, I will die
defending you. The love of my youth will be
the love of my age; and what you are to me
now, Olimpia, whether you reject or accept me,
that you will be till my last hour!"

He paused. His manner, even more than his
words, had been intense and eager, and now
that his passionate appeal was all poured out,
he waited for his sentence.

And Olimpia? Did she listen unmoved?
She strove hard to do so; but she could not
quite control the colour that came and went,
or the tears that would not be stayed. One
by one, as his pleading grew more earnest, they
had slipped slowly over the dark lashes and
down the oval cheek; and the Earl, who had
never seen her shed a tear before, believed for
one wild moment that his cause was won.

Her first words undeceived him.

"I am very sorry for this, Lord Castletowers,"
she said; and her voice, which was a
little tremulous at first, became steady as she
went on. "I would have given much that these
words had never been spoken; for they are
spoken in vain. I believe that you love me
sincerely. I believe that I have never been so
well loved—that I shall never be so well loved
again; but—I cannot marry you."

"You will, at least, give me a reason!"

"To what end? That you might combat it?
Do not ask it, my lord. Nothing that I could
tell, nothing that you could say, would alter my
decision."

The Earl turned his face aside.

"This is cruel," he said. "I have not
deserved it."

"Heaven knows that I do not mean it so,"
replied Olimpia, quickly. "I should be more
or less than woman if I did not regret the loss
of such a heart as yours."

"You have not lost it, Olimpia," he replied,
brokenly. "You will never lose it. With me,
once is always."

She clasped her hands together, like one in
pain.

"Oh, that it were not so!" she exclaimed.

"Are you, then, sorry for me?"

"Bitterly—bitterly!"

"And yet you cannot love me?"

Olimpia was silent.

Again the hope flashed upon him—again he
broke into passionate pleading.

"I used to think once—madly, presumptuously,
if you will—that you were not quite so
indifferent to me as you have been of late. Was
I mistaken in so thinking? Or is it possible
that I have done anything to lessen your
regard? Have I ever offended you? Or pained
you? Or manifested my admiration too openly?"

"Never—never."

"Then, did you never care for me? For
Heaven's sake, tell me this before we part."

Olimpia became ashy pale and leaned upon
the table, as if her strength were failing her.

"Lord Castletowers," she said, slowly, "you
have no right to press me thus."

"Not when the happiness of my whole life is
at stake? Give me but the shadow of a hope,
and I will be silent!"

"I cannot."

The Earl put his hand to his forehead in a
bewildered way.

"I don't seem as if I could believe it," he