Oh, my God! what am I about to do! Connor, keep this casket until I return; I shall not be long." She then went to his chamber.

The blinds and curtains of the windows had not been drawn, and it occurred to her that as her dress was so different from any which her father had ever seen on her, some suspicion might be created should he observe it.

She therefore left the candlestick which she had brought with her on the inside sill of a lobby window, having observed at the door that the moonlight streamed in through the windows upon his bed.

Judge of her consternation, however, when, on entering the room, her father, turning himself in the bed, asked: "Is that Helen ?" "It is, papa; I thought you had been asleep, and I came up to steal my good-night kiss without any intention of awakening you." "I drank too much, Helen, with Whitecraft, whom wine--my Burgundy--instead of warming, seems to turn into an icicle.

However, he is a devilish shrewd fellow.