ntly
by Sir David Bright. I have acted by the wishes of both your parents as
far as I possibly could. As to my disliking you or being ashamed of you,
such notions could only come out of a morbid imagination. In spite of
your feelings towards me, I still wish to be your friend. I want your
father's daughter to stand well with the world. So that I am left to
live here in peace undisturbed, I shall be glad to help you at any
time."

Mrs. Carteret's feelings were concentrated on Molly's conduct towards
herself, but Molly's consciousness was filled with the greatness of the
blow that had just fallen. It seemed to her that she had only now for
the first time lost her mother--her only ideal, the object of all her
better thoughts. That her enemy was justified was, indeed, just then of
little importance. She turned a dazed face towards her aunt:

"I ought to beg your pardon: I am sorry."

"Oh, pray don't take the trouble."

Mrs. Carteret got out of the chair with emphatic dignity, and held out
some papers.

"You had better read these. I will speak to you about them afterwards."

She left the room absolutely satisfied with her own conduct. But, coming
to a pause in the drawing-room, she remembered that she had made one
mistake.

"How stupid of me to have left Jane Dawning's letter among those
papers."

But she did not go back to fetch the letter from her cousin Lady
Dawning; and she did not own to herself that that apparent negligence
was her real revenge. Yet from that moment her feelings of
self-satisfaction were uncomfortably disturbed.

Meanwhile, Molly was kneeling by the window in the study in floods of
tears. Everything in her mind had lost its balance; and baffled,
disheartened, and ashamed, she wept tears that brought no softness. She
did not know it, but while to herself it seemed as if she were absorbed
in weeping over her disillusionment, she was in fact deciding that, as
her ideal had failed her, she would in future live only for herself, and
get everything out of life that she could for her own satisfaction.

No one in the world cared for her, but she would not be defeated or
crushed or forlorn. With an effort she sprang to her feet with one agile
movement, and pushed her heavy hair back from her forehead with her
long, thin fingers.

The colour had gone from her clear, dark skin for the moment, and her
breathing was fast and uneven, but her face still showed her to be very
young and very healthy. How