ain
Langton has asked me to be his wife, and I have consented."

Then she paused. Miss Hastings congratulated her, and wished her much
happiness. Pauline started at first, clasping her hands while her face
grew white, and then she recovered herself and kept perfect silence.

"Pauline," said Lady Darrell, "I am very happy; do not shadow my
happiness. Will you not wish me joy?"

"I cannot," replied the girl, in a trembling voice; "you will have no
joy."

Then, seeing Lady Darrell's wondering face, she seemed to recover
herself more completely.

"I will wish you," she said, bitterly, "as much happiness as you
deserve."

"That would be but little," returned Lady Darrell, with a faint laugh;
"I do not hold myself a particularly deserving person."

Then Miss Hastings, thinking they might come to a better understanding
alone, went away, leaving them together.

Lady Darrell went up to the girl. She laid her hands on her arm
appealingly, and raised her face with a pleading expression.

"Pauline," she said, her lips trembling with emotion, "after all, I was
your uncle's wife; for his sake you might show me a little kindness.
Marriage is a tie for life, not a bond for one day. Oh, Pauline,
Pauline, if there is any reason why I should not marry Aubrey Langton,
tell it--for Heaven's sake, tell it! Your manner is always so strange
to him; if you know anything against him, tell me now before it is too
late--tell me!"

There fell over them a profound silence, broken only by the sweet,
cheery music of a bird singing in the cedar tree, and the faint sighing
of the wind among the leaves.

"Tell me, for Heaven's sake!" repeated Lady Darrell, her grasp
tightening on Pauline's arm.

"I have nothing to tell," was the curt reply. "Pray do not hold my arm
so tightly, Lady Darrell; I have nothing to tell."

"Do not deceive me--there must be some reason for your strange manner.
Tell it to me now, before it is too late."

There was almost an agony of pleading in her face and voice, but Pauline
turned resolutely away, leaving her beneath the cedar alone.

"I must be mistaken," Lady Darrell thought. "What can she know of him? I
must be wrong to doubt him; surely if I doubt him I shall doubt Heaven
itself. It is her manner--her awkward manner--nothing more."

And she tried her best to dismiss all thoughts of Pauline from her mind,
and give herself to her newly-found happiness.

"Pauline," said Miss Hastings, sorrowfully, when sh