No Surrender. E. Werner

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      "I do not care for his consent," she said. "I shall not allow him to dictate to me one way or the other. Let him try to coerce me!"

      "No one will attempt to coerce you, but they will separate us," replied George. "The very moment our love is discovered, our separation will be decreed. I know it, and it is this knowledge alone which imposes silence on me. You little guess how the secrecy, which has such a charm for you, the continued anxious concealment, distresses and humiliates me; how contrary it is to my whole nature. Now for the first time I feel all the hardship of being poor and unknown."

      "What does it matter if you are poor?" asked Gabrielle, carelessly. "I shall be very rich one day. Mamma is always telling me that I am to be Uncle Raven's sole heiress."

      George was silent, setting his lips tightly as though to keep down some bitter feeling.

      "Yes, you will be rich," he said at last; "you will be only too rich."

      "I really believe you mean it as a reproach," pouted the young lady, with a highly ungracious look.

      "No; but it opens out one more gap between us. If you were in the same position of life as myself, I might come to you fearlessly, and ask, not for your hand at once, perhaps, but for your plighted faith, until such time as I could offer you a home of your own. As it is, what would Baron von Raven say, I wonder, if I ventured to propose to him for the hand of his ward and presumptive heiress? He stands in your father's place. You are under his authority."

      "Yes; but only until I come of age. In a few years, my lord's guardianship and authority will expire together. Then I shall be free."

      "In a few years!" echoed George. "And what will be your feelings then?"

      There was such sorrowful apprehension in his words that Gabrielle looked up half-frightened, half-offended.

      "George, do you doubt my love?"

      He clasped her hand tightly in his.

      "I have faith in you, my Gabrielle; trust me in return. I am not the first man who has worked his way up, and I have always been taught to look forward with confidence, and to depend on my own strength. I will strain every nerve for your sake. You shall not be ashamed of your choice."

      "Yes; you will have to make me the wife of an Excellency at least," laughed Gabrielle. "I shall fully expect that you will become a Governor or a Minister some day. Do you hear, George? No other title will suit me."

      George suddenly dropped the hand which still rested in his own. He had, no doubt, looked for some other answer to those fervent words which had come from the very depths of his heart.

      "You do not understand me. How, indeed, should you know anything of the serious, earnest side of life! No shadow has as yet crossed your path."

      "Oh, I can be serious enough," Gabrielle assured him. "Most uncommonly serious. You do not know me, my real nature, thoroughly yet."

      "Possibly," said the young man, with a rush of bitterness. "In any case, I have not had power to arouse your deeper self."

      Gabrielle saw very well that he was hurt, but it did not please her to notice his humour. She teased and jested on, giving full rein to her high spirits, and indulging in all her wilful little ways, sure of her influence which had often stood fiery tests, and which worked again now. The cloud dispersed from George's brow. Anger and resentfulness could not hold good before the chatter of those rosy lips, and when the dear face looked up at him, roguish and smiling, it was all over with his resistance--he smiled too.

      The clocks in the town on the opposite shore began to strike twelve. The chimes rang out distinctly over the lake, warning the young people that it was time to part. George raised his darling's hand to his lips, and kissed it passionately. The near neighbourhood of the high-road and of the adjacent country houses forbade any further mark of tenderness. Gabrielle did indeed seem to take the parting lightly. For one moment a shade fell over her, it is true, and a tear even glistened in her brown eyes, but next minute all was bright and sunny again. She threw a last kiss to her faithful lover, and hurried away. George's eyes followed her until she disappeared from view.

      "Max is right," he said, dreamily. "We are ill-mated, this spoilt child of fortune and I! Why must I love her, of all others, differing from me as she does in all wherein we should be most united? Why, indeed? Ah, I love her--and that is all the answer."

      In spite of his indignant repudiation of it, his friend's warning seemed to have found an echo in the young man's breast; but what could reason and reflection avail against the passion that had taken possession of his whole being? He knew from experience that there was no fighting against the charm which had taken him captive on their very first meeting, and to which on each succeeding occasion he had succumbed afresh.

CHAPTER II.

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      "Once more I entreat your Excellency to recall these harsh measures. We cannot possibly make the town responsible for the acts of a few individuals."

      "I too am of opinion that it is not necessary to proceed with such rigour. It will not be difficult to trace out the guilty parties, and to secure them."

      "Your Excellency should not attach such importance to the affair. It really does not deserve it."

      The Governor, Baron von Raven, to whom all these remonstrances and remarks were addressed, appeared but little moved by them. He answered with cold politeness:

      "I am exceedingly sorry, gentlemen, to find myself in such direct opposition to you in this matter, but I have formed this resolution after mature consideration; besides which, you know that I never recall a measure once decided on. My instructions will be carried out."

      The gentlemen assembled in the audience-room of the R---- Government-house seemed to have been engaged in a long and animated conference. They were all more or less excited, with the sole exception of the Baron himself, who leaned back in his chair with an air of imperturbable calm.

      "I should have thought that my voice, being that of the chief magistrate of the town, would have carried some weight with it," said he who had first spoken. "Particularly as on this occasion the Superintendent of Police declares himself on our side."

      "Certainly," assented the official alluded to; adding, however, with prudent reserve, "but I have filled my present post too short a time to be thoroughly acquainted with the local concerns. His Excellency is, no doubt, better qualified to judge than I am."

      "I only fear," began the third personage, who wore the uniform of a colonel--"I only fear, Baron, that this severity may be misinterpreted, that it may be construed into alarm for your own personal safety."

      A contemptuous smile played about the Baron's lips.

      "Make your mind easy," he replied. "They know me too well in R---- to ascribe fear to me. That reproach will be spared me, I know, come what may."

      He rose, thereby giving the signal for the breaking up of the conference.

      Baron Arno von Raven, at six or seven and СКАЧАТЬ