I thought nothing
of your consent, but only of her; and I went to Earlescourt. My
lord, I wrote to her, and my heart was in every line. She sent
me a cold reply. I wrote again; I swore I would see her. She
sent her sister to me with the reply. Then I grew desperate, and
vowed I would lay my claim before you. I asked her to meet me
out in the grounds, at night, unseen and unknown. She consented,
and on Thursday night I met her near the shrubbery.
"How I remember her pretty pleading words, her beautiful proud
face! She asked me to release her. She said that it had all
been child's play--a foolish mistake--and that if I would give
her her freedom from a foolish promise she would always be my
friend. At first I would not hear of it; but who could have
refused her? If she had told me to lie down at her feet and let
her trample the life out of me, I should have submitted.
"I promised to think of her request, and we walked on to the
border of the lake. Every hair upon her head was sacred to me;
the pretty, proud ways that tormented me delighted me, too. I
promised I would release her, and give her the freedom she asked,
if she told me I was not giving her up to another.
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