r face with both her
hands, and her form shook convulsively.

Beside that form and before that grave knelt Maltravers. There
vanished the last remnant of his stoic pride; and there--Evelyn herself
forgotten--there did he pray to Heaven for pardon to himself, and
blessings on the heart he had betrayed. There solemnly did he vow, the
remainder of his years, to guard from all future ill the faithful and
childless mother.

CHAPTER VI.

WILL Fortune never come with both hands full,
But write her fair words still in foulest letters?
_Henry IV._ Part ii.

I PASS over those explanations, that record of Alice's eventful history,
which Maltravers learned from her own lips, to confirm and add to the
narrative of the curate, the purport of which is already known to the
reader.

It was many hours before Alice was sufficiently composed to remember the
object for which she had sought the curate. But she had laid the letter
which she had brought, and which explained all, on the table at the
vicarage; and when Maltravers, having at last induced Alice, who seemed
afraid to lose sight of him for an instant, to retire to her room, and
seek some short repose, returned towards the vicarage, he met Aubrey in
the garden. The old man had taken the friend's acknowledged license to
read the letter evidently meant for his eye; and, alarmed and anxious,
he now eagerly sought a consultation with Maltravers. The letter,
written in English, as familiar to the writer as her own tongue, was
from Madame de Ventadour. It had been evidently dictated by the kindest
feelings. After apologizing briefly for her interference, she stated
that Lord Vargrave's marriage with Miss Cameron was now a matter of
public notoriety; that it would take place in a few days; that it was
observed with suspicion that Miss Cameron appeared nowhere; that she
seemed almost a prisoner in her room; that certain expressions which had
dropped from Lady Doltimore had alarmed her greatly. According to these
expressions, it would seem that Lady Vargrave was not apprised of the
approaching event; that, considering Miss Cameron's recent engagement to
Mr. Maltravers suddenly (and, as Valerie thought, unaccountably) broken
off on the arrival of Lord Vargrave; considering her extreme youth,
her brilliant fortune; and, Madame de Ventadour delicately hinted,
considering also Lord Vargrave's character for unscrupulous
determination in the furtherance of any o