It is a solemn moment--a moment which holds alike my destiny and yours in its hands." A rush of blood to her heart, a rush of moisture to her forehead; for Sibylla West was not wholly without feeling, and she knew, as Lionel said, that it was a decision fraught with grave destiny.

But Frederick Massingbird was more to her than he was.
"I have given my promise.

I cannot go from it," was her scarcely breathed answer.
"May your falsity never come home to you!" broke from Lionel, in the bitterness of his anguish.

And he strode from the room without another word or look, and quitted the house..