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Mr Stewart regarded her sadly as she uttered these words, and his stern tone softened as he noticed her bloodless cheek and quivering lip
"Florence, it is not your forives me this pain, and saddens our future If you were at this moment a professor of the Romish faith, I would still cherish and trust you: I should strive to convince you of your error--to point out the fallacy of your hopes When I recall the circumstances by which you were surrounded, and the influences exerted, I scarcely wonder that, for a time, you lent your credence and support But, Florence, full well you know that this is not what pains norance of what your own heart told you would show your momentary weakness, and led me to suppose you entertained a belief at variance with your practise You have feared ard of truth and candor Florence, Florence! knowing hoell I loved you, and what implicit confidence I reposed in you, how could you do this?"
"Again, Mr Stewart, I repeat that I perceive no culpability in my conduct Had I felt it hed an atoht and wrong"
He turned from her, and paced to and fro before the fire Florence would have left the room, but Mary clasped her dress, and detained her
"Mr Stewart, you have been too harsh and hasty in your decision, and too severe in your reh she acted i to expose to her eye your every foible and weakness For you, like all God's creatures, have faults of your own Is there nothing you have left untold relative to your past? Oh! if you kne deep and unutterable has been her love, even when she never again expected to et this momentary weakness--a fault committed from the very intensity of her love, and fear lest she should sink in your estimation"
"Mary, if she had said, Dudley, I have not always felt as now, and my mind was darkened for a time, I should have loved her, if possible, more than before, for her noble candor My own heart would have told me, This is one in whom you may eternally trust, for she risked the forfeiture of your love in order that truth ht be unsullied How can I confide in one who values the esteem of man more than the approval of her own conscience? You have said her love was a palliation No, you are wrong; it is an aggravation of her fault She should have loved me too well to suffer me to discover by chance what should have been disclosed in confidence Mary, her love is not greater than mine None kno I have cherished herour long separation I would give every earthly joy or possession to retain her affection, for it is dearer tobeside, save truth, candor, and honesty I have nothing to conceal froly bareI should wish to keep back, unless it be the pain of this hour"