shoulder and hastily asked, "What are you thinking of, Jane?"

She gave a sudden start, and looked at the earl with an embarrassed
air.

"I am thinking of all that you have been saying to me, my father,"
replied she, calmly. "I am considering what benefit to our object I
can draw from it."

Lord Douglas shook his head, and smiled incredulously. At length he
said solemnly: "Take care, Jane, take care that your heart does not
deceive your head. If we would reach our aim here, you must, above
all things, maintain a cool heart and a cool head. Do you still
possess both, Jane?"

In confusion she cast down her eyes before his penetrating look.
Lord Douglas noticed it, and a passionate word was already on his
lips. But he kept it back. As a prudent diplomat, he knew that it is
often more politic to destroy a thing by ignoring it, than to enter
into an open contest with it. The feelings are like the dragons'
teeth of Theseus. If you contend with them, they always grow again
anew, and with renewed energy, out of the soil. Lord Douglas,
therefore, was very careful not to notice his daughter's confusion.
"Pardon me, my daughter, if, in my zeal and my tender care for you,
I go too far. I know that your dear and beautiful head is cool
enough to wear a crown. I know that in your heart dwell only
ambition and religion. Let us, then, further consider what we have
to do in order to attain our end.

"We have spoken of Henry as a husband, of Henry as a man; and I hope