Selfish and hard as she was, 'Lina loved the doctor, and with a shudder
as she thought of the deception imposed on him, and a half regret that
she had so deceived him, she replied:

"I am not worthy of you. I do love you very much, and it would kill me
to lose you now. Promise that when you find, as you will, how bad I am,
you will not hate me!"

It was an attempt at confession, but the doctor did not so construe it.
Poor 'Lina. It is not often we have seen her thus--gentle, softened,
womanly; so we will make the most of it, and remember it in the future.

The bright sunlight of the next morning was very exhilarating, and
though the doctor, who had risen early, was disappointed in Spring Bank,
he was not at all suspicious, and greeted his bride-elect kindly,
noticing, while he did so, how her cheeks alternately paled, and then
grew red, while she seemed to be chilly and cold. 'Lina had passed a
wretched night, tossing from side to side, bathing her throbbing head
and rubbing her aching limbs. The severe cold taken in the wet yard was
making itself visible, and she came to the breakfast table jaded,
wretched and sick, a striking contrast to Alice Johnson, who seemed to
the doctor more beautiful than ever. She was unusually gay this morning,
for while talking to Dr. Richards, whom she had met in the parlor, she
had, among other things concerning Snowdon, said to him, casually, as it
seemed:

"Anna has a waiting maid at last. You saw her, of course?"

Somehow the doctor fancied Alice wished him to say yes, and as he had
seen Adah's back, he replied at once:

"Oh, yes, I saw her. Fine looking for a servant. Her little boy is
splendid."

Alice was satisfied. The shadow lifted from her spirits. Dr. Richards
was not George Hastings. He was not the villain she had feared, and
'Lina might have him now. Poor 'Lina. Alice felt almost as if she had
done her a wrong by suspecting the doctor, and was very kind to her that
day. Poor 'Lina, we say it again, for hard, and wicked, and treacherous,
and unfilial, as she had ever been, she had need for pity on this her
wedding day. Retribution, terrible and crushing, was at hand, hurrying
on in the carriage bringing Anna Richards to Spring Bank, and on the
fleet-footed steed bearing the convict swiftly up the Frankfort pike.

'Lina could not tell what ailed her. Her _hauteur_ of manner was all
gone, and Mug, who had come into the room to see "the finery," was not
chidden or told