Resuming, at length, with something of resignation in his manner, he continued-- "Well, Kate, since you will have it so, I forbear; though, what course is left for you, and what hope for me, if your father continues in his present humor, I am at a loss to see.

There is one thing, however--there is one pledge that I would exact from you before we part." He took her hand tenderly as he spoke, and his eyes, glistening with tearful expectation, were fixed upon her own; but she did not immediately reply.

She seemed rather to await the naming of the pledge of which he spoke.

There was a struggle going on between her mind and her affections; and though, in the end, the latter seemed to obtain the mastery, the sense of propriety, the moral guardianship of her own spirit battled sternly and fearlessly against their suggestions.

She would make no promise which might, by any possibility, bind her to an engagement inconsistent with other and primary obligations.
"I know not, Mark, what may be the pledge which you would have from me, to which I could consent with propriety.