rts. I--" Here she caught sight of the
bandaged hands, which Margaret had been trying to conceal beneath the
afghan. Instantly the tragic mask fell from Rita's face, and left a real
human countenance, full of pity and anxiety. "My dear!" she cried. "My
angel, my poor suffering Marguerite. Ah! you sent me word it was
nothing. You are injured, terribly injured, and by my fault. Ah! now
Carlos _must_ let me die, as I desire. Life is no longer possible!"

The words were extravagant, but there was real grief and distress in the
tone. She laid her head on Margaret's shoulder and sobbed aloud; and
Peggy was heartily glad to hear her cry, and cried in sympathy. Margaret
could not stroke the dark head, but she moved her own near it, and
whispered little comforting words, and kissed the soft hair. And
presently, finding that the sobs only increased in violence, she
whispered to Rita that she was distressing her uncle, and that she
really must try to be quiet on his account. At the sound of his name,
Rita froze again, though not to her former degree of rigour; with a
fervent kiss on Margaret's brow, she rose, and finally took the chair
that had been placed for her. Mr. Montfort sat down opposite, and a
brief silence followed. He seemed to be thinking what he should say. At
length he spoke.

"My dear nieces, this is a day of explanations, and I feel that I owe
you all an explanation of my conduct, which, doubtless, must appear
strange to you. I--well, I suppose I am an eccentric man. I have always
been considered so, and I confess not without apparent reason. I have
often been able to justify to myself conduct which has seemed strange to
others; and it has been my misfortune to live so much alone, that
perhaps I may rely too much on this practice of self-justification.

"It is now five years since my friend and cousin, Mrs. Cheriton, came to
live with me. I have been made sensible, by her sweet and gracious
presence, that my life before had been very grim and solitary, and I
determined that it should be so no more. I also felt that while she was
spared to me it would be a happiness and a benefit to her to have some
young life about the house; to have, in short, some young and sweet
woman, who could be her companion in a hundred ways that would not be
possible for a solitary bachelor like myself.

"With these thoughts in my mind, I naturally turned to the young women
directly connected with me,--to the daughters of my brothers. I