Did you not say that you would be my brother? Be my
brother always. I will accept from your hands all that
a brother could do; and when that arrangement is quite
fixed, I will love you as much as Mary loves you, and
trust you as completely; and I will be obedient, as a
younger sister should be.

Your loving Sister,

C. A.

"It's all no good," said William Belton, as he crunched the note in
his hand. "I might as well shoot myself. Get out of the way there,
will you?" And the injured groom scudded across the farm-yard,
knowing that there was something wrong with his master.

CHAPTER XXX.

MARY BELTON.

It was about the middle of the pleasant month of May when Clara
Amedroz again made that often repeated journey to Taunton, with the
object of meeting Mary Belton. She had transferred herself and her
own peculiar belongings back from the cottage to the house, and had
again established herself there so that she might welcome her new
friend. But she was not satisfied with simply receiving her guest at
Belton, and therefore she made the journey to Taunton, and settled
herself for the night at the inn. She was careful to get a bedroom
for an "invalid lady," close to the sitting-room, and before she went
down to the station she saw that the cloth was laid for tea, and that
the tea parlour had been made to look as pleasant as was possible
with an inn parlour.

She was very nervous as she stood upon the platform waiting for the
new comer to show herself. She knew that Mary was a cripple, but did
not know how far her cousin was disfigured by her infirmity; and
when she saw a pale-faced little woman, somewhat melancholy, but yet
pretty withal, with soft, clear eyes, and only so much appearance
of a stoop as to soften the hearts of those who saw her, Clara was
agreeably surprised, and felt herself to be suddenly relieved of an
unpleasant weight. She could talk to the woman she saw there, as to
any other woman, without the painful necessity of treating her always
as an invalid. "I think you are Miss Belton?" she said, holding out
her hand. The likeness between Mary and her brother was too great to
allow of Clara being mistaken.

"And you are Clara Amedroz? It is so good of you to come to meet me!"

"I thought you would be dull in a strange town by yourself."

"It will be much nicer to have you with me."

Then they went together up to the inn; and when they had taken their
bonnets off, Mary