greater danger in descending. Young sir seigneur,
you have ascended to a height you may not safely
stoop from. As sportive and adventurous schoolboys
sometimes ascend a scaffolding in the absence of the
builders, and continue to scale from tier to tier,
until they pause for breath; so, I fear, that you this
night, in her protector's absence, have soared in the
affections of my ward. Beware, beware: I would
not threaten you -- a gentleman neither needs nor
brooks a threat -- but, by my life and the strength
that yet is left me, woe to the man that shall fool me
in yonder girl! Seek not to trifle with me, Claude
Montigny. Tell me your purpose; inform me how
your acquaintance with my ward began; how it was
fostered; how it has been concealed; and how it thus
has ripened into this secret, midnight interview.
Speak; what do you say, sir, in arrest of judgment?
Be seated, and recount to me the story of your
love, if you do love my ward -- as you have told
her that you do -- and to that love be attached
a story, long or brief; or if this passion -- which
you have propounded most passionately to her --
be of a mere mushroom growth, born of to-night,
sown by the hand of moonlight in a girl's dark eyes;
or in her heart, perhaps, by the fairies that you
spoke of, and producing some form of feeling or
forced fruit of fancy; coeval with, and meant to
be as transient, as is the present fungi of these
fields. Sit down by me, and let your tongue a true
deliverance make between yourself, me, and my
foster-daughter." And seating himself heavily on
a garden bench, and leaning with both hands clasped
over the top of his gold-headed cane, he looked

[[45]]

p044b _ -chap- _ toc-1 _ p045w _ toc-2 _ +chap+ _ p046

v?