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you accuse me of having failed in this, you wrong me ; you'
wrong your own heart too. I pass no judgment upon you,
pupa, or upon any one. Your belief is a matter between yourself
and God, even as mine is. No, I pass no judgment upon
yon, I only judge myself, and I know nnd feel oh ! how intimately,
that I must either become a Catholic or lose my own
immortal soul and I know oh ! I am ; sure, dear, dear papa
that you who have ever loved me so much, can never ask me
to do that?"
"Enough, sir, enough of this. My soul ought to be as
dear to me as yours is to you, and I have no doubt of being
able to save it, even in the church which you, in your wisdom,
so much despise," responded Mr. Stanhope, coldly and haugh-
"
tily. But," and his Voice involuntarily faltered as he spoke,
and the tears rushed into his eyes, despite all his efforts to
restrain them, " but have you well considered the consequences
of the mad step which you seem so determined to take ? Have
you well pondered the strength of my will ? And do you sup-
are about
pose that I will ever submit to the degradation you
to heap upon our hitherto unsullied name ? Have you consid-
ered my pride and my position, and do you suppose
ever put it in the power of a jibing mob to point at me with
THE TWO VICTORIES. 13
instruction, save the recommendation to treat yon with i
every
an.! confidence. If I have failed in this, as, perhaps,
I have, the fault is all my own. I must decline to see Mr.
Grant, as I cannot perceive nuy good result to be attained
from such a meeting. Surely, after seventeen years of study,
utto know the religion I have so long professed; and
h Mr. Grant might beat me in argument, as no doubt he
would, still he would never convince me. No, papa, no power
"
on earth could do that, and therefore why should I see him ?
"Your pride and presumption are intolerable, sir. You
dare to pass judgment upon me, and upon your ancestors.
We have all gone wrong, forsooth, nnd you, and you alone,
are right. How dare you use such language to me, sir? how
dare you speak to me in such terms ? how dare you so utterly
forget and despise all that is due to me, and to those who have
"
gone before me ?
"Dear papa, I do not forget what is due to yon. I love and
I honor you above all the world. There is nothing that I
would not do to show my love and reverence for to wind themselves about his knees, and spurning the fulling
you, and when
boy with his foot, as though ho were something infinitely hateful
and loathsome to him, with the fearful curse that seemed
to blanch the very lips that uttered it,
h. .iadly from
the room, where his only son was stretched, faint, and I
ing upon the floor.
A short time, and there was a great hurrying to and fro
through the stately house, for the servants, hearing a heavy
fall, had rushed into their master's room, and found him in a
fit upon the floor whilst Edwin was laid ; upon his bed, with
the blood trickling from a cut in his temple, and only sutnciently
conscious to know that a gentle hand ever and anon
stanched his wound, and that two loving arms wound round
his neck; that a soft young cheek was resting by tho side ol'
his, mid a dear and well-known voice whispering in his ear,
"Edwin, my own darling, whatever may happen, there is at
least one heart will remain faithful to you, and love you dearly
as it ever did. "
And once again, may God be with the brave young heart
that has been stricken down even by a father's hand, but that
that I will
the finger of scorn, and to say of me that I allowed my own son
considered how
to become a miserable apostate ? Have you
many hopes, how many expectations are concentrated in you,
and are you prepared to blast them all for the gratification of
a mere whim ? Are you prepared to throw away, as a thing
not worth having, the love that I have ever lavished upon you ?
Have you considered that I will die rather than yield to your
folly? Tell me," he continued, passionately, "tell me, have
you considered all this, and are you prepared to take upon
yourself the "
consequences of this act ?
"
Papa," cried Edwin frantically, falling upon his knees, "I
have considered all this, and the thought has nearly killed me.
I cannot bear it much longer, and indeed I am willing to die.
indeed it will. I can-
If you cast me off, it will kill me, oh !
not live without your Ipve, and in the knowledge that you
have disowned me ; but," he continued, sobbing till his voice
was hardly audible, " I must become a Catholic. Oh! indeed
I must I must I must; and may God support me in the
struggle."
" "
Enough, sir; cried Mr. Stanhope, rising madly from his
chair, and stamping passionately upon the ground. -'Enough
sir ! go your way, and I will go mine. You have cast me off
for a mere whim, and now I disown and disclaim you. You
are no son of mine. Henceforward we are strangers. I will
tear the very image of you from my heart; or, if ever I think
of you, it shall be but to nourish my hate for the vile apostate
who has forsaken and betrayed me. I will trample upon every
feeling of love that may linger in my heart towards you, and
I will cast it from me as a base and loathsome thing, and by
the God that is above us, I will never look upon your face
again."
And rouchlv disengaging himself from the arms that sought
is neither crushed nor conquered yet.
CHAPTEB XI.
COMFOET IN GBIEF. A MTNlSTERINa ANGEL. THE PROUD MAN'S
PAIN.
It was a month before Edwin was sufficiently recovered from
the shock occasioned by the interview with his father, narrated
in the last chapter, to be able to leave his room. He had received,
too, a rather severe, though not dangerous cut on the
forehead, by falling against a chair as his father cast him from
him, and this, added to the intensity of his feelings, had acted
very strongly on his already weak and enfeebled system ; and
for three weeks he was unable to rise from his bed. Duringthe
whole of this time there was a soft and genial face for ever
hovering round his bed like an angel of comfort and consola-
tion, smoothing so softly and soothingly the pillow which sup-
ported his weary and aching head, dressing with such tv light
and skilful touch his wounded forehead ; holding such cool and
pleasant draughts to his parched and burning lips, kissing him
with such deep .and heartfelt love, and ever and anon, when he
groaned the most heavily, and tossed the most restlessly, whispering
so lovingly in his ear the comforting words he had heard
on that dreadful night, "Edwin, my own darling, whatever
may happen, remember that you can never be less dear to me
than you are now." And, oh ! how often during the time he
lay upon his bed of pain, as the stern dark face rose up before
him as he had seen it last when it was quivering with rage and
indignation, and the remembrance of that fearful curse came
thrilling through his frame, would he turn to the fair young
girl that watched beside his bed, and laying his poor weary
head upon her bosom, would wind his arms around her neck,
and as her golden ringlets fell upon him as she bent over him,
would sob himself to sleep upon that gentle, faithful heart ;
and, after dreaming of angels and of rest, would wake to see
those same mild eyes looking into his, with such a depth of love
and faithfulness in every glance, and to feel those pure and
gentle lips pressed to his, with love so holy and so innocent,
that even pitying angels, as they hovered round, might fear no
danger to their own unsullied holiness as they gazed upon the
brother's and sister's love.
Maria knew all now, and had received from Edwin a full account
of his own change, and of the interview with his father.
She listened calmly and quietly to his story, with his hand
clasped in hers, and only interrupting him by stooping down
to kiss him when his voice faltered more than usual, or when,
with all the quickness of a woman's perception, she perceived
that he was coming to something painful and distiv
When, after describing his interview with his father, and their
dreadful parting, he finished liis story and turned away his
head to hide his tears, she bent her face down to his as it reclined
hidden by his hands upon the arm of a couch on