unjust reproach and the accents of fierce despair,--closed a defence
that showed, in its false pride and its perverted eloquence, so utter a
blindness to every principle of that Honor which had been the father's
idol,--Roland placed his hand before the eyes that he had previously, as
if spell-bound, fixed on the hardened offender, and once more drawing
Fanny towards him, said,--

"His breath pollutes the air that innocence and honesty should breathe.
He says all in this house are at his command,--why do we stay? Let us
go." He turned towards the door, and Fanny with him.

Meanwhile the louder sounds below had been silenced for some moments;
but I heard a step in the hall. Vivian started, and placed himself
before us.

"No, no; you cannot leave me thus, Miss Trevanion. I resign you,--be it
so; I do not even ask for pardon. But to leave this house thus, without
carriage, without attendants, without explanation! The blame falls on
me,--it shall do so; but at least vouchsafe me the right to repair what
I yet can repair of the wrong, to protect all that is left to me,--your
name."

As he spoke he did not perceive (for he was facing us, and with his back
to the door) that a new actor had noiselessly entered on the scene, and,
pausing by the threshold, heard his last words.

"The name of Miss Trevanion, sir,--and from what?" asked the new comer
as he advanced and surveyed Vivian with a look that, but for its quiet,
would have seemed disdain.