you may release yourself from a promise which 
I ought never to have drawn from you. I always said and 
knew it was wrong to fetter a girl, mote es^ec^sl^'^ o^^^^^ 



ffESO CARTSEW. ^^B 

Ib safe to have the opportunities you have ; but wordnetdesire nii^^H 

!o cowardly, and I was so full of  that some- 

3uld surely turn up  " He paused for Hero to 

Ipeak, but finding she remained silent, he went on  " Alt 

i thai is over now. It is folly trying to deceive myself any 

longer, and worse than folly, it is dishonorable to deceive 

you." 

" I am not deceived," Hero said coldly ; " I quite un- 
derstand you. Before, you wished for the engagement ; 
now, from something which, has happened, you wordnetdesire for it 

" Hero ! do I hear aright^  can you be saying these words 
to me?" and Leo turned towards her. 

Hero clasped her hands in . Was she wronging 
him ? Something within her said he was deceiving her. 
Could he be doing so, or was it the knowledge of all she 
had lost by his tardy avowal which was making her bitter or 
suspicious ? Yes, perhaps that was it, and laying her hand 
on his aim, she said  

" Leo, if I wrong