"Yes," with a sigh; "shall I tell you about it--as I told your
mother--oh, how good she was to me, how she tried to comfort me, and
she had suffered so much herself. Of course, you have always known
that my name is not really Davenport, but you have never guessed that
it is Crystal Ferrers."

"Ferrers! Do you mean that you belong to Mr. Erle's friends, the blind
clergyman who lives with his sister at the Grange?"

"Yes, I am Margaret Ferrers's cousin, the young cousin whom they
adopted as their own child, and who lived with them from childhood.
Well, I will tell you from the beginning, for you will never
understand without hearing about my mother. Give me your hand, dear;
if you are tired, and do not want to hear more, will you draw it away.
I am glad it is getting dusk, so you will not see my face; the moon
will rise presently, so we shall have light enough."

"One moment, Crystal; does Mr. Erle know?"

"No, of course not, he is a mere acquaintance; what should put that in
your head, Fern?"

"Oh, nothing, it was only fancy," returned the girl; she hardly knew
why she had put the question; was it something in Erle's manner that
afternoon? He had asked her, a little anxiously, if Miss Davenport
were going away again, and if she would be at home the following week.
"For she had been such a runaway lately," he had said with a slight
laugh, "and I was thinking that it must be dull for you when she is
away." But Fern had assured him that Crystal had no intention of going
away again, for she had no idea of the plot that Crystal and Miss
Campion were hatching between them.

CHAPTER XXIII.

CRYSTAL'S STORY.

The path my father's foot
Had trod me out (which suddenly broke off
What time he dropped the wallet of the flesh
And passed) alone I carried on, and set
My child-heart 'gainst the thorny underwood,
To reach the grassy shelter of the trees,
Ah, babe i' the wood, without a brother-babe!
My own self-pity, like the redbreast bird,
Flies back to cover all that past with leaves.

ELIZABETH BARRETT BROWNING.

"I must begin at the very beginning, Fern," said Crystal, with a
stifled sigh. "I hope I shall not weary you;" and as Fern disclaimed
the possibility of fatigue with much energy, she continued: "Oh, I
will be as brief as possible, but I want you to understand it all
plainly.

"I have told you that Margaret Ferrers is my cousin;