er and a better cause for that healthful
change. Mr. Vernon St. John is not alone,--a fair companion leans on his
arm. See, she pauses to press closer to his side, gaze on his face, and
whisper, "We did well to have hope and faith!"

The husband's faith had not been so unshaken as his Mary's, and a slight
blush passed over his cheek as he thought of his concession to Sir
Miles's wishes, and his overtures to Lucretia Clavering. Still, that
fault had been fairly acknowledged to his wife, and she felt, the moment
she had spoken, that she had committed an indiscretion; nevertheless,
with an arch touch of womanly malice she added softly,--

"And Miss Clavering, you persist in saying, was not really handsome?"

"My love," replied the husband, gravely, "you would oblige me by not
recalling the very painful recollections connected with that name. Let
it never be mentioned in this house."

Lady Mary bowed her graceful head in submission; she understood
Charles's feelings. For though he had not shown her Sir Miles's letter
and its enclosure, he had communicated enough to account for the
unexpected heritage, and to lessen his wife's compassion for the
disappointed heiress. Nevertheless, she comprehended that her husband
felt an uneasy twinge at the idea that he was compelled to act hardly
to the one whose hopes he had supplanted. Lucretia's banishment from
Laughton was a just humiliation, but it humbled a generous heart to
inflict the sentence. Thus, on all accounts, the remembrance of Lucretia
was painful and unwelcome to the successor of Sir Miles. There was a
silence; Lady Mary pressed her husband's hand.

"It is strange," said he, giving vent to his thoughts at that tender
sign of sympathy in his feeling,--"strange that, after all, she did not
marry Mainwaring, but fixed her choice on that subtle Frenchman. But
she has settled abroad now, perhaps for life; a great relief to my mind.
Yes, let us never recur to her."

"Fortunately," said Lady Mary, with some hesitation, "she does not seem
to have created much interest here. The poor seldom name her to me, and
our neighbours only with surprise at her marriage. In another year she
will be forgotten!"

Mr. St. John sighed. Perhaps he felt how much more easily he had been
forgotten, were he the banished one, Lucretia the possessor! His
light nature, however, soon escaped from all thoughts and sources of
annoyance, and he listened with complacent attention to Lady Mary's
gent