Lucretia, Complete

s will, relative to the transfer of her portion; and she had asked Dalibard to accompany her thither; for her pride shrank from receiving the lawyer in the shabby parlour

o Primrose Hill, and called, as wa

ept aloof from direct explanations with his pupil; he knew that she would distrust no one like himself. The plot was now ripened, and it was time for the main agent to conduct the

e who report our afflictions. I must endure this; I have struggled long between my indignati

hat seemed scarcely to c

not tell me. I will hear no

to believe me, Lucretia; I would not now speak, if you had not the opportunity to convince yourself. Even those with whom you live are false to you; at this moment they have arrange

ot-the courage; driv

as something so terrible, yet so touching, that it became su

se; and wisely forbearing all taunt and resis

laimed,-"stop! I will not, I cannot, endure this suspense to l

ter unsuspected;" and Dalibard, as the carriage

descended, without touching the arm held out to her. Dalibar

es him; she has sought this interview. He is so mild and gentle, so fearful to give pain; he has consented, from pity,-that is all. Is he not pledged to

ay yet discover. But I own your belief is not impossible; my interest in you may have made me rash and unju

rful gloom on her brow and in her accent; "I w

d counted too much upon the jealousy of common natures. After all, how little to the ear of one resolved to deceive herself might pass between these two young pe

, lest they should encounter Mainwaring on his way to it. He

ty for me has, no doubt, provided all means and contrivance, all necessary aids to basenes

traitor, deemed the best to distinguish falsehood from truth. I have arranged that we shall enter the house unsuspected. Mainwaring and your sister

cide whether the means you suggest to learn truth and defend safety will be familiar or loathsome to me for life,-will

ather the decision should condemn me; for

but with a look that implied defiance; and (still without a word) she ascended the stairs, and entered the room appointed for concealment. But as she entered, at the farther corner of the chamber she saw Mrs. Fielden seated,-seated, remote and out of hearing. The good-natured woman had yielded to Mainwaring's prayer, and Susan's silent look that e

ath, Lucretia had quitted her side and taken her post at the fatal door.

countenance was in full view. But it was Susan's voice that met her ear; and though sweet and low, i

the unseen witness,-"not for this, believe me, that I consented to see you. If I did so, it was only because I thought, because I feared from your manner, when we met at times, still more from your evident avoidance to

otten

met you,-met you without a thought which Lucretia would have a right to blame, could she read my heart; met you," and the voice for the first time faltered, "that I might say, 'Be at peace; it is your sister that addresses you. Requite Lucretia's love,-it is deep and strong; give he

-lost forever! No, no, I will be worthy of you! I do not, I dare not, say that I love you still! I feel wh

ing-I must not hear you

d. Heaven is my witness how I have struggled to repay her affection with my own! If I cannot succeed, at least all that faith and gratitude can give are hers. Yes, when I leave you, comforted by your forgiveness, your prayers, I shall have strength to tear you from

ins, as a ghost from the grave. The door was thrown open, and Lucretia stood in the aperture,-stood, gazing on him, face to face; and h

er sister. With the impulse of the pierced and loving heart, which divined all the agon

oke but to deceive me,-me, who loved him once! Mine alone, mine is the cr

njoyed his shame and terror. Before, however, she spoke, Mrs. Fielden, who had watched, as one spellbound, Lucretia's movements, and, without hearing what had passed, had the full foreboding of what would ensue, but had not stirred till Lucretia herself terminated the suspense

etia, with a strange sort of musing accent, at first scornful, at last only quietly abstracted. "Rise, sir," she then added, with her most imper

attempting to seize her hand; "I

reezing and unspeakable majesty. "There is only one person here who needs a

le; her eye glanced on the deep mourning of the garment, and her memory recalled all that love had cost her; but she added no oth

and astonished by this softness, "say that Lucretia Clavering uttere

bable, which is seen in the human face, after long illness, a day or two before death. Dalibard was appalled; for he had too often seen that hue in the dying not to recognize it now. His emotion was sufficiently genui

head sank upon the shoulder of her fearful counsellor, unconscious of its resting