Do I not owe my life to you?
and I swear that so long as you remain in my charge I will treat you as my sister in all honour and respect." For some minutes the girl made no answer.

At length she said, standing up, and half turning toward the bushes: "I will trust you, Sir Archie.

I know you to be a brave and honourable knight, and I will trust you.

I know `tis a strange step to take, and the world will blame me; but what can I do?
If I refuse your offer I shall be kept a prisoner here until I consent to marry John of Lorne, whom I hate, for he is as rough and cruel as his father, without the kindness of heart, which, save in his angry moments, the latter has ever had toward me.

All my relations are against me, and struggle against my fate as I may, I must in the end bend to their will if I remain here.