Conceive, then, if you can, my sensations when she cried, 'Stop, madam! Say what you will to me; insult, outrage me, if you please, and have not the good breeding and dignity to forbear; but do not presume to so slander him.

Do not presume to accuse him, who is all nobility and greatness of soul, of a sentiment so base, a prejudice so infamous.

Study him, madam, know him better, ere you attempt to be his mouth-piece.' "As she uttered these words, a horrible foreboding seized me, or, to speak more truthfully, I so felt the certainty of what she spoke, that a shudder of terror ran over me.

I thought of him, of his character, of his principles, of his insane sense of honor, of his terrible will under all that soft exterior,--the hand of steel under the silken glove; I saw that if I persisted and she still refused to yield I should lose all.

On the instant I changed my attack.
"'It is true,' I said, 'having asked you to become his wife, he will marry you; he will redeem his pledge though it ruin his life and blast his career, to say nothing of the effect an unending series of outrages and mortifications will have upon his temper and his heart.