ow right she had been. In that front bedroom, the
door of which was opposite to her own, with closed shutters, in the
terrible solemnity of lifeless humanity, was still lying the body of
her aunt! What would she have thought of herself if at such a moment
she could have listened to words of love, and promised herself as a
wife while such an inmate was in the house? She little knew that he,
within that same room, had pledged himself, to her who was now lying
there waiting for her last removal--had pledged himself, just seven
days since, to make the offer which, when he was talking to her, she
was always half hoping and half fearing!

He could have meant nothing else when he told her that he had not
intended to suggest that she should live there alone in that great
house at Perivale. She could not hinder herself from thinking of
this, unfit as was the present moment for any such thoughts. How was
it possible that she should not speculate on the subject, let her
resolutions against any such speculation be ever so strong? She had
confessed to herself that she loved the man, and what else could she
wish but that he also should love her? But there came upon her some
faint suspicion--some glimpse of what was almost a dream--that he
might possibly in this matter be guided rather by duty than by love.
It might be that he would feel himself constrained to offer his hand
to her--constrained by the peculiarity of his position towards her.
If so--should she discover that such were his motives--there would be
no doubt as to the nature of her answer.

CHAPTER X.

SHOWING HOW CAPTAIN AYLMER KEPT HIS PROMISE.

The next day was necessarily very sad. Clara had declared her
determination to follow her aunt to the churchyard, and did so,
together with Martha, the old servant. There were three or four
mourning coaches, as family friends came over from Taunton, one
or two of whom were to be present at the reading of the will. How
melancholy was the occasion, and how well the work was done; how
substantial and yet how solemn was the luncheon, spread after the
funeral for the gentlemen; and how the will was read, without a
word of remark, by Mr. Palmer, need hardly be told here. The will
contained certain substantial legacies to servants--the amount to
that old handmaid Martha being so great as to produce a fit of
fainting, after which the old handmaid declared that if ever there
was, by any chance, an angel of light upon the earth