d over her work, and thought within herself that her
friend could not judge of the deed. She replied--

"Thank you! I thought I should get some sympathy from you in the end,
to repay me for the irksomeness of exposing such a piece of social vice
as this poor lady's conduct."

"Yes, indeed, I ought to have acknowledged it before, as I feel it; but
you know there is so much to think over! it is so wonderful--so almost
inconceivable!"

"It is so."

"Is it quite necessary, Maria--yes, I see it is necessary that you
should speak to Mr Rowland to-morrow? You are bound in honesty to do
so; but it will be very painful. Can we not help you? Can we not in
some way spare you?"

"No, you cannot, thank you. For Mr Rowland's sake, no one must be by;
and none of you can testify to the facts. No; leave me alone. By this
time to-morrow night it will be done. What knock is that? No one ever
knocks on my account. Surely it cannot be your servant already. It is
only now half-past eight."

"I promised Hester I would go home early."

"She cannot want you half so much as I do. Stay another hour."

Margaret could not. Hester made a point of her returning at this time.
When the cloaking and final chat were done, and Margaret was at the
door, Maria called her. Margaret came skipping back to hear her
friend's whisper.

"How is your wretchedness, Margaret?"

"How is yours?" was Margaret's reply.

"Much better. The disburdening of it is a great comfort."

"And the pain--the aching?"

"Oh, never mind that!"

Margaret shook her head; she could not but mind it--but wish that she
could take it upon herself sometimes. She had often thought lately,
that she should rather enjoy a few weeks of Maria's pain, as an
alternative to the woe under which she had been suffering; but this, if
she could have tried the experiment, she would probably have found to be
a mistake. When she saw her friend cover her eyes with her hand, as if
for a listless hour of solitude, she felt that she had been wrong in
yielding to her sister's jealousy of her being so much with Maria; and
she resolved that, next time, Maria should appoint the hour for her
return home.

When Maria was thus covering her eyes with her hand, she was
thinking--"Now, half this task is over. The other half to-morrow--and
then the consequences!"

When Margaret entered the drawing-room at home, where her brother was
reading aloud to Hester, he exclaimed--

"We beat