So pray, Mr.Lyon, write at once.

I shall scarcely sleep until all is over." With an angry imprecation, Lyon dashed this letter on the floor.
"Mad girl!" he said; "did I not warn her fully of the consequences?
Write to her father?
What shall I write?
Tell him that I have deceived him! That when he thought me far away I was sitting beside his daughter, and tempting her to act towards him with concealment, if not duplicity! Madness! folly!" "I was a fool," he communed with himself in a calmer mood, "to put so much in jeopardy for a woman! Nay, a girl--a mere child.

But what is to be done?
Three days only intervene between this time and the period at which our secret will be made known; so, whatever is to be done must be determined quickly.

Shall I treat the matter with Markland seriously, or lightly?
Not seriously, for that will surely cause him to do the same.

Lightly, of course; for the manner in which I speak of it will have its influence.