The mother again made her demand.

"There is one thing that you must do for her before other things can be thought of.

When shall she become your wife ?" It was for a moment on his tongue to tell her that it could not be so while his uncle lived;--but to this he at once felt that there were two objections, directly opposed to each other, but each so strong as to make any such reply very dangerous.

It would imply a promise, which he certainly did not intend to keep, of marrying the girl when his uncle should be dead; and, although promising so much more than he intended to perform, would raise the ungovernable wrath of the woman before him.
That he should now hesitate,--now, in her Kate's present condition,--as to redeeming those vows of marriage which he had made to her in her innocence, would raise a fury in the mother's bosom which he feared to encounter.

He got up and walked about the room, while she stood with her eyes fixed upon him, ever and anon reiterating her demand.