ne which promised a solution of all these difficulties. It had, in
truth, lifted a heavy burden from his life.

With the letter in his hand Lord Hope went to his wife's dressing-room,
where he found her, hollow-eyed, and so nervous that a faint cry broke
from her as he entered the room.

She felt the loss of her brother terribly, notwithstanding what seemed
to be a ready concession to the harsh treatment he received, and her
sleep, as we know, had been restless and broken in the night.

She was cold and shivering, though the weather was warm, and had
wrapped a shawl, full of richly-tinted colors, over her morning-dress,
and sat cowering under it like some newly-caught animal.

Lord Hope felt that his inhospitable expulsion of her brother, and the
cruel conversation that had followed it, was the cause of this nervous
depression, and his heart smote him. With the letter open in his hand he
went up to her chair, and bending over it, kissed Rachael on the
forehead.

A smile broke over those gloomy features; the heavy eyes lighted up; she
lifted her face to his.

"Oh, you do love me--you do love me!"

"My poor Rachael! how can you permit words that sprang out of the gloomy
memories which Hepworth brought to trouble you so? Come, smile again,
for I have good news for you--for us all."

"Good news! Is Hepworth coming back?"

"Forget Hepworth just now, and read that."

Lady Hope took the letter and read it through. When she gave it back,
her face was radiant.

"At last--at last!" she exclaimed. "Oh, Norton, this will lift me to my
proper place by your side. Now, now I will make you proud of me! These
patricians shall learn that all great gifts do not spring from
birth--that genius has a nobility which can match that given by kings."

Rachael started up in her excitement, flung the shawl away, and stood a
priestess where she had just cowered like a wounded animal.

"Now we shall be all the world to each other, and walk through this
proud life of yours, fairly mated. Great Heavens! after a night like the
last, who could have expected such a morning? But Clara, you will let
her go?"

"She is preparing to go now."

"My girl--my bright, beautiful girl! She has always been the angel in my
path. But for her, this might never have come. But we cannot give her
up--not entirely. You will not consent to that?"

"If we do, it will be only for a time, Rachael. The countess is very
old."

"Yes, it will not be for long,