posed to go to
her own room. Then she remembered all her cousin's misery, and crept
up-stairs to the door. She had come so softly, that though the door
was hardly closed, nothing had been heard of her approach. "May I
come in, dear?" she said very gently.

"Well, Mary; tell me all," said Clarissa.

"There is nothing to tell, Clary;--only this, that I fear Mr. Newton
is not worthy of your love."

"He asked you to take him?"

"Never mind, dearest. We will not talk of that. Dear, dearest Clary,
if I only could make you happy."

"But you have refused him?"

"Don't you know me better than to ask me? Don't you know where my
heart is? We will carry our burdens together, dearest, and then they
will be lighter."

"But he will come to you again;--that other one."

"Clary, dear; we will not think about it. There are things which
should not be thought of. We will not talk of it, but we will love
each other so dearly." Clarissa, now that she was assured that her
evil fortune was not to be aggravated by any injury done to her by
her cousin, allowed herself to be tranquillised if not comforted.
There was indeed something in her position that did not admit of
comfort. All the family knew the story of her unrequited love,
and treated her with a compassion which, while its tenderness was
pleasant to her, was still in itself an injury. A vain attachment in
a woman's heart must ever be a weary load, because she can take no
step of her own towards that consummation by which the burden may be
converted into a joy. A man may be active, may press his suit even a
tenth time, may do something towards achieving success. A woman can
only be still and endure. But Clarissa had so managed her affairs
that even that privilege of being still was hardly left to her. Her
trouble was known to them all. She doubted whether even the servants
in the house did not know the cause of her woe. How all this had
come to pass she could not now remember. She had told Patience,--as
though in compliance with some compact that each should ever tell the
other all things. And then circumstances had arisen which made it so
natural that she should be open and candid with Mary. The two Ralphs
were to be their two lovers. That to her had been a delightful dream
during the last few months. He, whose inheritance at that moment was
supposed to have been gone, had, as Clarissa thought, in plainest
language told his love to her. "Dear, dear Clary, you know I love
you.