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The worst that could befall Cicely might be imprisonment, and a life of constraint, jealously watched; but his own long concealment of her birth might easily be construed into treason, and the horrible consequences of such an accusation were only too fresh in his memory.
"I ask thee not to break thy word. I ask thee, if thou wert free to marry, if thou wouldst be an Austrian or Lorraine duchess, or content thee with an honest English youth whose plighted word is more precious to him than gold." "O mother, how can you ask?" said Cicely, dropping down, and hiding her face in the Queen's lap. "Then, Humfrey Talbot, I give her to thee, my child, my Bride of Scotland.
Daisy Stewart was what anybody would have called 'a pretty little thing. She was small, round-cheeked, round-eyed, round-limbed; light upon her feet; shewing a mass of brown hair brushed with gold under her hat, and the fresh complexion of a mountain maid. Nelly guessed her age about three and twenty, and could not help keenly watching the meeting between her and Cicely.
"Ah, good Lucy! thank you, Lucy!" exclaimed Kathleen. "That's right, Lucy! Hurrah for Lucy!" cried several other voices. "No discipline at all to-day," continued Lucy. "School doesn't begin until to-morrow." Cicely was seated near Aneta, with Kathleen O'Donnell at her other side. Just for a minute Aneta's eyes traveled across the table and fixed themselves on Maggie's face.
She and Amherst exchanged a few words about Cicely; then she exclaimed, with a glance through the panes of the hall door: "But I must be off I'm on foot, and the crossings appal me after dark."
The dog apparently grew a little tired, for it threw itself down on the floor, but without relaxing any of its former vigilance. "I believe it's going to stop here all night," groaned Cicely, almost in tears. The case was waxing desperate. So weary were the poor girls that they were ready to drop with fatigue. Unless something happened, and that speedily, there was bound to be a catastrophe.
They seemed so continually on the point of unravelling the mystery, only to find themselves again defeated and baffled. Cicely was tempted to throw it up altogether in despair, but Lindsay had a native obstinacy of disposition that could not bear to be beaten. "I shall go on trying as long as we're at Haversleigh, on that I'm entirely resolved," she declared.
Langhope and Cicely arrived at Hanaford they found Amherst alone to receive them. He explained briefly that his wife had been unwell, and had gone to seek rest and change at the house of an old friend in the west. Mr. Langhope expressed a decent amount of regret, and the subject was dropped as if by common consent. Cicely, however, was not so easily silenced.
She bowed her head, and he repeated the question to Emlyn, who answered "What my mistress says, I say." "So be it!" he exclaimed. "Doubtless you sorceresses put your trust in the devil. Well, we shall see if he will help you to-morrow." "God will help us," replied Cicely in a quiet voice. "Remember my words when the time comes." Then he went. It was an awful night.
He was very fond of his little step-daughter, and deeply sensible of his obligations toward her; and he hoped that, as Mr. Langhope came to recognize this, it might bring about a better understanding between them. His mother detained him. "You're going back to the mills at once? I wanted to consult you about the rooms. Miss Brent had better be next to Cicely?" "I suppose so yes.
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