other. Neither of us can look much at the
future to-night; but we must not forget that there is a future. So it is
still the old task which is before us, to keep our secret."

The voice had been very steady until the last word; but as that was
spoken, it faltered and failed so suddenly that Lucia looked up. She
sprang to her feet, but just in time. The over-tried strength had given
way, and Mrs. Costello had fallen back in a deep fainting fit.

CHAPTER IV.

Lucia dared not call Margery to her assistance. The consciousness of
having something to conceal made her dread the smallest self-betrayal.
She hastened, therefore, to do alone all that she could do for her
mother's recovery; but it was so long before she succeeded that she grew
almost wild with terror. At last, however, the deathly look passed away,
and with the very first moment of returning animation, the habit of
self-control returned also. Mrs. Costello smiled at her daughter's
anxious face.

"I am afraid," she said, "that you will have to get used to these
attacks. Do not be frightened; you see they pass off again."

"But you never used to have them?"

"No; but youth and strength cannot last for ever."

"Mamma! you are not old; you are not much more than forty yet."

"Forty-two in years; but there are some years that might count for ten."

"It is this horrible pressure upon you; you are being tortured to
death!"

"Hush, my child. What I suffer is but the just and natural consequence
of what I did. Be patient, both for me and for yourself. By-and-by we
shall see that all is right."

Hard doctrine! and only to be learnt by long endurance. Lucia rebelled
against it, but she could not argue with her mother's pale face and
faintly spoken words to oppose her. She busied herself softly in such
little offices as her anxiety suggested, and they spoke no more that
night of the subjects nearest to their hearts.

But when Mrs. Costello was alone, she began to think of Maurice. She
felt, even before she began to think, that something which had been a
stay and prop to her hitherto had suddenly been snatched away, and she
had now to realize that this support was her confidence in him. For a
long time she had grown accustomed to rest upon the idea that a safe
and honourable future was secured for her child, and this had made
present trials and difficulties endurable. She had seen Percy's
courtship with bitter disappointment, although she had miscalculated