brance of all the faults and the follies of his youth!
Francesca rose and paced the room in an agony of doubt. The more she thought of her situation, the more she saw the necessity of advancing her claims. Lucy would soon be married, and then Lawrence Aylmer's could be no home for her; and her cheek burnt with sudden fire at the thought, that in a little while the slender remains of the money they had brought from Italy would be exhausted. She knew how helpless then would be her condition—young, a female, a stranger, without acquaintance or introduction, what could she do? The idea that she would not seek her father, which had sprung up in the despondency of the moment, faded away. However painful, the task must be accomplished.
She was awakened from her gloomy reverie by the beating of a sudden shower against the lattice; some books lay on the window-seat, and she went to shut the open casement. She stood looking out, involuntarily attracted by the beauty of the scene. The sunshine glittered through the diamond shower, which came like a flight of radiant arrows; while, outlined on a dim purple cloud, a magnificent rainbow spanned the mighty forest; instantly a second, but fainter, spread beneath the
