to bow their necks to the flimsy yoke of these unmeaning pretensions? Were

your sister indeed the insignificant person she deserves to be, I would

willingly leave her to the fate, the wretched fate, of the wife of a man,

whose very person, resembling as it does his wretched father, ought to

remind you of the folly and vice it typifies--but remember, Lady Idris,

it is not alone the once royal blood of England that colours your veins,

you are a Princess of Austria, and every life-drop is akin to emperors and

kings. Are you then a fit mate for an uneducated shepherd-boy, whose only

inheritance is his father's tarnished name?"

"I can make but one defence," replied Idris, "the same offered by my

brother; see Lionel, converse with my shepherd-boy"---The Countess

interrupted her indignantly--"Yours!"--she cried: and then, smoothing

her impassioned features to a disdainful smile, she continued--"We will

talk of this another time. All I now ask, all your mother, Idris, requests

is, that you will not see this upstart during the interval of one month."

"I dare not comply," said Idris, "it would pain him too much. I have no

right to play with his feelings, to accept his proffered love, and then

sting him with neglect."

This is going too far," her mother answered, with quivering lips, and eyes

again instinct by anger.

Nay, Madam," said Adrian, "unless my sister consent never to see him

again, it is surely an useless torment to separate them for a month."

The Last Man