"Oh, Le, Le! No, no, no! I am no longer your own! No longer your Odalite," she exclaimed, struggling out of his embrace, and bursting into a tempest of tears and sobs.
"Not my Odalite! Nonsense, dearest dear! Not my own Odalite? Whose else should you be, I wonder? Why, you have been my own Odalite all your little life. What can be the matter with you? I know now! I have read and heard about hysterics in young girls, and that is what has come over you, darling! I took you too much by surprise! You fainted, and now you are hysterical! What can I do for you, Odalite? I wish I knew just what to do! Do you know? No! you shake your head. Well! let us go back to the house! We had certainly better do that!" said the youth, rising and offering his arm.
"No! no, Le! not to the house! It is here that I must tell you! here by the sea! Yes! it is a fitting place for such a confession! here by the treacherous sea!" she said, trying to suppress the sobs that still shook her bosom.
The young man said no more, but simply stood before her and waited in wonder for her words.
"I am not hysterical, Le! I am not hysterical; but I am false--faithless! Despise and forget me, Le! for I am not worthy of your remembrance. I am false and faithless!"
"No, no! Odalite, it cannot be true!" cried the young man, in a sharp tone of anguish.
"Yes, yes! it is true! it is true! it is shameful, but it is true!" exclaimed the desperate girl.
"Oh, my Lord, my Lord! Can this be possible? You false to me, Odalite! You--you!" cried the youth, growing deathly pale, while great drops of cold sweat started from his forehead.
The girl strove to speak, but failed, and nodded with a choking sob.
"Who is the man?" demanded the youth, throwing himself again on the bench, since indeed he was scarcely able to stand.
"I--I--I--am engaged to Col. Anglesea," gasped and faltered Odalite.
"'Col. Anglesea!' And who, in the foul fiend's name, is Col. Anglesea? Satan fly away with him!"
"He is--is an--an officer in the--the East India Service."
"How did you come to know him? May the----"
"Oh, don't, don't, Le! He was an old--old friend of my mother, and--we met him at Niagara."
"I wish to Heaven he was at the foot of the falls!"
"So do I with all my heart!--oh, no, I don't either!--I--I don't know what I am talking about! My head is wild!" said Odalite, putting her hand to her forehead.