ghed.

"I have nothing to do," she said, "but make every one happy; and it is
my duty to find you always a comfortable home."

Lady Darrell looked, as she was in those days, a most happy woman. She
seemed to have grown younger and fairer. The height of her ambition, the
height of her happiness, was reached at last. She was rich in the
world's goods, and it was in her power to make the man she loved rich
and powerful too. She was, for the first time in her life, pleasing her
own heart; and happiness made her more tender, more amiable, more
considerate and thoughtful for others.

Lady Hampton mourned over the great mistake her niece was making. She
had whispered in confidence to all her dear friends that Elinor was
really going to throw herself away on the captain after all. It was
such a pity, she said, when Lord Aynsley was so deeply in love with her.

"But then," she concluded, with a sigh, "it is a matter in which I
cannot interfere."

Yet, looking at Lady Darrell's bright, happy face, she could not quite
regret the captain's existence.

"You will not be lonely, Lady Darrell," said Miss Hastings, the evening
before her journey.

She never forgot the light that spread over the fair young face--the
intense happiness that shone in the blue eyes.

"No," she returned, with a sigh of unutterable content, "I shall never
be lonely again. I have thoughts and memories that keep my heart
warm--all loneliness or sorrow is over for me."

On the morrow Miss Darrell and the governess were to go to Omberleigh,
but the same night Lady Darrell went to Pauline's room.

"I hope you will excuse me," she said, when the girl looked up in
haughty surprise. "I want to say a few words to you before you go."

The cool, formal terms on which they lived were set aside, and for the
first time Lady Darrell visited Pauline in her room.

"I want to ask you one great favor," continued Lady Darrell. "Will you
promise me that Miss Hastings shall not want for anything? She is far
from strong."

"I shall consider Miss Hastings my own especial charge," said Pauline.

"But you must allow me to help you. I have a very great affection for
her, and desire nothing better than to prove it by kind actions."

"Miss Hastings would be very grateful to you if she knew it," said
Pauline.

"But I do not want her to be grateful. I do not want her to know
anything about it. With all her gentleness, Miss Hastings has an
independence quite her own--an i