hat she was
perfectly sane,--had never been otherwise,--but preferred that the
false report in circulation should not be corrected, since her husband
had set it in motion. I learned that she was well and pleasantly
located somewhere in the East, but would never see the faces of either
friends or foes, and absolutely refused all intercourse with her race.
From one of her letters (which, a moment after, he burned in the
grate) Mr. Clayton read me a paragraph: '_The greatest mercy you can
show me is to allow me to forget. Henceforth mention no more the names
of any I ever knew; and let silence, like a pall, shroud all the past
of Vashti._' He died next day, and since then--"

The sad, sweet voice, which for some moments had been growing more and
more unsteady, here sank into a sob, and the governess wept freely,
while her whole frame shook with the violence of long-pent anguish,
that now defied control.

"Oh, if I could find her! If I could go to her and tell her all, and
exonerate myself! If I could show her that he was mine always,--mine
long before she ever saw him,--then she would not think so harshly of
me. I know not what explanation Maurice gave her, nor how much of our
conversation she overheard; and I cannot live contentedly,--oh! I
cannot die in peace till I see my poor crushed darling, and hear from
her lips the assurance that she does not hold me responsible for her
wretchedness. Dr. Grey, I love her with a pitying tenderness that
transcends all power of expression. Perhaps if Maurice had ever loved
her, I could not feel as I do towards her; for a woman's nature
tolerates no rival in the affection of her lover, and, unprincipled as
mine proved in other respects, I know that his heart was always
unswervingly my own. My dear, noble Evelyn! My pure, loving little
darling! Ah! I have wearied heaven with prayers that God would give
her back to my arms."

Unable to conceal the emotion he was unwilling she should witness, Dr.
Grey disengaged his arm and walked away, striving to regain his usual
composure.

Did the governess suspect the proximity of her long-lost friend? If
she claimed his assistance in prosecuting her search, what course
would duty dictate?

Retracing his steps, he found that she had seated herself on a bench
near one of the tallest lilacs, and having thrown aside her quilted
hood of scarlet silk, her care-worn countenance was fully exposed.

She was gazing very intently at some object in her