unreservedly and
abruptly, as she always gave it. "Do as Jane tells you!" said the old
lady, severely; "that poor child has more moral courage and
determination than all the rest of you put together! I know better than
any body what a sacrifice she has had to make; but she has made it, and
made it nobly--like a heroine, as some people would say; like a good,
high-minded, courageous girl, as _I_ say! Do as she tells you! Let that
poor, selfish fool of a man have his way, and marry her sister--he has
made one mistake already about a face--see if he doesn't find out, some
day, that he has made another, about a wife! Let him!--Jane is too good
for _him_, or for any man! Leave her to me; let her stop here; she
shan't lose by what happened! You know this place is mine--I mean it is
to be hers, when I'm dead. You know I've got some money--I shall leave
it to her. I've made my will: it's all done and settled! Go back home;
send for the man, and tell Clara to marry him without any more fuss! You
wanted my opinion--There it is for you!"

At last Mr. Langley decided. The important letter was written, which
recalled Mr. Streatfield to Langley Hall. As Jane had foreseen, Clara at
first refused to hold any communication with him; but a letter from her
sister, and the remonstrances of her father, soon changed her
resolution. There was nothing in common between the twin-sisters but
their personal resemblance. Clara had been guided all her life by the
opinions of others, and she was guided by them now.

Once permitted the opportunity of pleading his cause, Mr. Streatfield
did not neglect his own interests. It would be little to our purpose to
describe the doubts and difficulties which delayed at first the progress
of his second courtship--pursued as it was under circumstances, not only
extraordinary, but unprecedented. It is no longer with him, or with
Clara Langley, that the interest of our story is connected. Suffice it
to say, that he ultimately overcame all the young lady's scruples; and
that, a few months afterwards, some of Mr. Langley's intimate friends
found themselves again assembled round his table as wedding-guests, and
congratulating Mr. Streatfield on his approaching union with Clara, as
they had already congratulated him, scarcely a year back, on his
approaching union with Jane!

The social ceremonies of the wedding-day were performed soberly--almost
sadly. Some of the guests (especially the unmarried ladies) thought
th