But you shall wed him out of hate, Clara--or for the interest of your family--or for what reason you will--But wed him you shall and must." "Brother--dearest brother--one single word!" "Not of refusal or expostulation--that time is gone by," said her stern censurer.

"When I believed thee what I thought thee this morning, I might advise you, but I could not compel.

But, since the honour of our family has been disgraced by your means, it is but just, that, if possible, its disgrace should be hidden; and it shall,--ay, if selling you for a slave would tend to conceal it!" "You do worse--you do worse by me! A slave in an open market may be bought by a kind master--you do not give me that chance--you wed me to one who"---- "Fear him not, nor the worst that he can do, Clara," said her brother.
"I know on what terms he marries; and being once more your brother, as your obedience in this matter will make me, he had better tear his flesh from his bones with his own teeth, than do thee any displeasure! By Heaven, I hate him so much--for he has outreached me every way--that methinks it is some consolation that he will not receive in thee the excellent creature I thought thee!--Fallen as thou art, thou art still too good for him." Encouraged by the more gentle and almost affectionate tone in which her brother spoke, Clara could not help saying, although almost in a whisper, "I trust it will not be so--I trust he will consider his own condition, honour, and happiness, better than to share it with me." "Let him utter such a scruple if he dares," said Mowbray--"But he dares not hesitate--he knows that the instant he recedes from addressing you, he signs his own death-warrant or mine, or perhaps that of both; and his views, too, are of a kind that will not be relinquished on a point of scrupulous delicacy merely.

Therefore, Clara, nourish no such thought in your heart as that there is the least possibility of your escaping this marriage! The match is booked--Swear you will not hesitate." "I will not," she said, almost breathlessly, terrified lest he was about to start once more into the fit of unbridled fury which had before seized on him.
"Do not even whisper or hint an objection, but submit to your fate, for it is inevitable." "I will--submit"-- answered Clara, in the same trembling accent.
"And I," he said, "will spare you--at least at present--and it may be for ever--all enquiry into the guilt which you have confessed.

Rumours there were of misconduct, which reached my ears even in England; but who could have believed them that looked on you daily, and witnessed your late course of life ?--On this subject I will be at present silent--perhaps may not again touch on it--that is, if you do nothing to thwart my pleasure, or to avoid the fate which circumstances render unavoidable .-- And now it is late--retire, Clara, to your bed--think on what I have said as what necessity has determined, and not my selfish pleasure." He held out his hand, and she placed, but not without reluctant terror, her trembling palm in his.