"  Did  I  not  speak  of  Mr.  "Wentworth  in  the  warmest  terms  ?"
he  demanded,  "  Did  I  not  pay  the  warmest  tributes  to  his
character  and  talents  ?"

"  I  admit  that  you  did,"  replied  Emily,  painfully  coloring  ;
"  but  yon,  nevertheless,  contrived  to  throw  a  shadow  pn  his
constancy  aad  purity  as  it  lorer,  and  what  eonld  have  bepn
worse  to  me  who  loved  liim  ?"

"  I  contrived  I"  exclaimed  Fernando,  liftuig  his  head  with
an  air  of  proud  and  disdainful  injured  innocence,  which  Har-
rington and  Muriel  alone  saw  was  theatrically  assumed  and
overdone.  "  I  contrived  1  Miss  Ames,  I  might  answer  this
charge  with  simple  silence,  and  conscious  of  its  untruth,  might
bear  it  as  a  gentlemen  should  bear  all  injuries,  with  foi^ivcness
But,  since  you  were  so  unfortunate  as  to  receive  a  wrong  im-
pressaon  from  remarks  wliich  were  made  only  in  candor,  and
which  were  not  intended  to  injure  any  one,  let  me  say  this :
Did  you  not  yourself  ask  me  to  tell  yon  candidly  what  I  thought
of  Mr.  Wentworth  f "

"  I  own  I  did,"  replied  poor  Emily,  wishing  she  had  not  said
a  word,  and  sorry  that  she  had  so  rashly  blamed  the  good
Fernando  for  what  was,  she  thought,  her  own  fault  after  all.
"  And  when  you  asked  me  that,  in  the  mutual  confidence  of
friendship,"  pursued  Witherlee,  "  can  you  blame  me  for  having
answered  you  with  the  candor  yon  requested  ?"


o.led  by  Google


394

Emily,  with  the  tcara  very  near  her  eyos,  ami  her  face  glow-
ing, was  silent.
