"Do you repent that love, then?"

"No! no! Would to God I had the power to repent! but I cannot, Rachael,
with you by me!"

CHAPTER XVIII.

THE STORMY NIGHT AND SUNSHINY MORNING.

Lady Clara found her way into the house unnoticed, and stole back to her
own room, weary and heart-sick from the excitement she had passed
through.

For more than an hour she sat by her window looking out upon the
moonlight which flooded the lawn, and the dense black shadows of the
trees beyond.

The stillness gradually hushed her sobs into a sad calm, and, without
other light than that which came from the moon, she crept into her bed,
and lay there, as if buried in a snow-drift, cold and shivering from
exhausting emotions and exposure to the night air.

She could not sleep, but lay thinking of the man who had been driven
from the house that night, wondering where he was, and when, upon the
earth, she would meet him.

All at once she started up and uttered a faint cry. Some one had passed
swiftly through her door, and was approaching the bed. She saw the face,
as it crossed the window, and sank to the pillow again.

"Mamma Rachael, is it you?" she gasped.

Lady Hope sat down on the edge of the bed. She seemed deathly cold; but
there was a far-off look in her eyes, as the moonlight fell upon them,
which seemed unnatural to the girl.

Clara put back the bed-clothes and reached out her arms; for Lady Hope
was in her night-dress, and her feet were uncovered.

"Come into bed, mamma Rachael; you shiver so."

Lady Hope took no heed, but arose slowly from the bed, and, going to a
dressing-table, poured some water from a ewer that stood there, and
began to wash her hands.

Clara could see her in the moonlight, and sat up in the bed, afraid and
wondering.

"Mamma, mamma Rachael," she faltered, terrified by the sound of her
voice, "why are you staying out in the cold like that?"

Lady Hope shook the drops from her fingers, and leaving the table, began
to pace the floor. At last Clara sprang from the bed and took hold of
her.

Every nerve in the woman's body seemed to quiver under that touch; she
uttered a shrill cry, and clung to the girl to save herself from
falling.

"Come to the bed with me, mamma. Your hand is cold; it touches mine like
snow. That is right; put your arms around me. Poor, poor mamma! how your
heart struggles! There, there; the chill is going off. We will get each
other warm; for we love each other,