d. Where is she now? Can you tell me?"

"Ill, very ill, battling breathlessly with that woman, who still
persists on her reappearance. You can save her from it. Will you?"

"No wonder you ask the question, Lady Clara, I have not deserved great
confidence. But one thing; these are strange confessions that we have
made to each other; let them rest inviolate between us. We shall be
friends. Let the world think us more, if it likes."

"With all my heart. And now, good-by. I am going back to the castle."

When Clara reached the castle she found a letter waiting for her. It was
from Margaret, who was still in London, at Olympia's house.

Clara read this letter with a very thoughtful face, and went at once to
Lady Carset's room, with the letter in her pocket and painful anxiety in
her heart.

Lady Carset had come out of her sleep, wonderfully refreshed and
cheerful.

The effort which she had so generously made to make atonement for what
she considered the one mistake of her life, gave to her own heart a
feeling of exquisite rest. The company of her grandchild also had let a
whole burst of sunshine into that princely old castle, and its mistress
seemed to have grown young in its warmth and brightness. She had been
thinking of the girl ever since the sleep left her eyelids, and now,
when she came in, with her sweet face clouded, the idea that had been
floating in her brain took form.

"You seem troubled, Clara," she said. "Did the great, wandering old park
frighten you with its loneliness? Sit down, darling, and we will talk of
something I have just been thinking of."

Clara sat down on the foot of the couch, and taking the small feet of
her grandmother into her lap, began to smooth and caress them with her
hand.

"I am an old, old woman, my darling, and not over strong, so it is
impossible for me to make a companion to you."

"Oh, but I love you so much!"

"I know, dear; but would you not like a companion of your own age--some
nice young lady, who could go with you into the park, share the pretty
phaeton, and help drive the ponies I have ordered for you, when I am
taking my rest here?"

"Oh, grandmamma, who told you what was in my mind? how could you have
guessed it? Can I--may I? Grandmamma, I know the very person!"

"She must be well-educated and well-bred."

"She is a lady about my age, but handsomer."

"I will not believe that, Clara," said the old lady, smiling.

"But she is--taller, more queenly. You