At length he approached so close as to say, in an anxious whisper, "Miss Mowbray--Miss Mowbray--I must speak with you." "And what would you have with Miss Mowbray ?" said the fair wearer of the beautiful shawl, but without turning round her head.
"I have a secret--an important secret, of which to make you aware; but it is not for this place .-- Do not turn from me!--Your happiness in this, and perhaps in the next life, depends on your listening to me." The lady led the way, as if to give him an opportunity of speaking with her more privately, to one of those old-fashioned and deeply-embowered recesses, which are commonly found in such gardens as that of Shaws-Castle; and, with her shawl wrapped around her head, so as in some degree to conceal her features, she stood before Mr.Cargill in the doubtful light and shadow of a huge platanus tree, which formed the canopy of the arbour, and seemed to await the communication he had promised.
"Report says," said the clergyman, speaking in an eager and hurried manner, yet with a low voice, and like one desirous of being heard by her whom he addressed, and by no one else,--"Report says that you are about to be married." "And is report kind enough to say to whom ?" answered the lady, with a tone of indifference which seemed to astound her interrogator.
"Young lady," he answered, with a solemn voice, "had this levity been sworn to me, I could never have believed it! Have you forgot the circumstances in which you stand ?--Have you forgotten that my promise of secrecy, sinful perhaps even in that degree, was but a conditional promise ?--or did you think that a being so sequestered as I am was already dead to the world, even while he was walking upon its surface ?--Know, young lady, that I am indeed dead to the pleasures and the ordinary business of life, but I am even therefore the more alive to its duties." "Upon my honour, sir, unless you are pleased to be more explicit, it is impossible for me either to answer or understand you," said the lady; "you speak too seriously for a masquerade pleasantry, and yet not clearly enough to make your earnest comprehensible." "Is this sullenness, Miss Mowbray ?" said the clergyman, with increased animation; "Is it levity ?--Or is it alienation of mind ?--Even after a fever of the brain, we retain a recollection of the causes of our illness .-- Come, you must and do understand me, when I say, that I will not consent to your committing a great crime to attain temporal wealth and rank, no, not to make you an empress.

My path is a clear one; and should I hear a whisper breathed of your alliance with this Earl, or whatever he may be, rely upon it, that I will withdraw the veil, and make your brother, your bridegroom, and the whole world, acquainted with the situation in which you stand, and the impossibility of your forming the alliance which you propose to yourself, I am compelled to say, against the laws of God and man." "But, sir--sir," answered the lady, rather eagerly than anxiously, "you have not yet told me what business you have with my marriage, or what arguments you can bring against it." "Madam," replied Mr.Cargill, "in your present state of mind, and in such a scene as this, I cannot enter upon a topic for which the season is unfit, and you, I am sorry to say, are totally unprepared.

It is enough that you know the grounds on which you stand.

At a fitter opportunity, I will, as it is my duty, lay before you the enormity of what you are said to have meditated, with the freedom which becomes one, who, however humble, is appointed to explain to his fellow-creatures the laws of his Maker.

In the meantime, I am not afraid that you will take any hasty step, after such a warning as this." So saying, he turned from the lady with that dignity which a conscious discharge of duty confers, yet, at the same time, with a sense of deep pain, inflicted by the careless levity of her whom he addressed.