"
"And I," said another voice, that of the Countess de Mirac, who up to
this time had held herself in the background, but who now came
forward and took her place with the rest, "I, who have borne the name
of Blake, and who am still the proudest of them all at heart, I, the
Countess de Mirac, cousin to your husband there, repeat what this
good woman has said, and in holding out my hand to you, ask you to
make my cousin happy and his family contented by assuming that
position in his household which the law as well as his love accords
you."
The girl looked at the daintily gloved hand held out to her, colored
faintly, and put her own within it.
"I thank you for your goodness," said she, surveying with half-sad,
half-admiring glances, the somewhat pale face of the beautiful
brunette.
"And you will yield to our united requests?" She cast her eye down at
the spot where her father and brother had cowered in their shackles,
and shook her head. "I dare not," said she.
Immediately Mrs. Daniels, whose emotion had been increasing every
moment since she last spoke, plunged her hand into her bosom and drew
out a folded paper.
"Mrs. Blake," said she, "if you could be convinced that what I have
told you was true, and that you would be irretrievably injuring your
husband and his interests, by persisting in that desertion of him
which your purpose, would you not consent to reconsider your
determination, settled as it appears to be?"
"If I could be made to see that, most certainly," returned she in a
low voice whose broken accents betrayed at what cost she remained
true to her resolve.
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