very sorry for it. And that boy Lionel, who was as proud as Guy Darrell himself when I saw him last (prouder indeed)--that he should be so ungrateful to his benefactor! And, indeed, the day may come when he may turn round on you, or on the lame old gentleman, and say he has been disgraced. Should not wonder at all! Young folks when they are sweet-hearting only talk about roses and angels, and such-like; but when husbands and wives fall out, as they always do sooner or later, they don't mince their words then, and they just take the sharpest thing that they can find at their tongue's end. So you may depend on it, my dear Miss, that some day or other that young Haughton will say, 'that you lost him the old Manor-house and the old Darrell name,' and have been his disgrace; that's the very word, Miss; I have heard husbands and wives say it to each other over and over again."
SOPHY.--"Oh, Mr. Fairthorn! Mr. Fairthorn! these horrid words cannot be meant for me. I will go to Mr. Darrell--I will ask him how I can be a dis--" Her lips could not force out the word.
FAIRTHORN.--"Ay; go to Mr. Darrell, if you please. He will deny it all; he will never speak to me again. I don't care--I am reckless. But it is not the less true that you make him an exile because you may make me a beggar."
SOPHY (wringing her hands).--"Have you no mercy, Mr. Fairthorn? Will you not explain?"
FAIRTHORN.--"Yes, if you will promise to keep it secret at least for the next six months--anything for breathing-time."
SOPHY (impatiently).--"I promise, I promise; speak, speak."
And then Fairthorn did speak! He did speak of Jasper Losely--his character--his debasement--even of his midnight visit to her host's chamber. He did speak of the child fraudulently sought to be thrust on Darrell--of Darrell's just indignation and loathing. The man was merciless; though he had not an idea of the anguish he was inflicting, he was venting his own anguish. All the mystery of her past life became clear at once to the unhappy girl--all that had been kept from her by protecting love. All her vague conjectures now became a dreadful certainty;--explained now why Lionel had fled her--why he had written that letter, over the contents of which she
