not likely to guess it. She had acted, in dismissing him, on a
kind of distrust, she would have said, of human nature; more truly, of
him; but even this distrust was so vague and so disguised that it never
shadowed his character in her eyes. So, though she had parted from him,
she took comfort in the thought of his love, and kept it in her heart to
save herself from the overwhelming sense of degradation, which took
possession of her in remembering why she had sent him away from her.

It was this feeling which, in spite of her courage and her pride, had
brought to her face that look of real trouble of which Mrs. Bellairs had
spoken. It was a look of which she was herself entirely unconscious,
more like the effect of years of care, than like that of a sudden
sorrow. With this change of expression on her face, and sobered, but
cheerful and capable as ever in her ways and doings, Lucia made her
preparations for leaving the place which was so dear and familiar to
her.

Mrs. Costello's spirits had risen since their plans were settled. The
burden which was new to Lucia had been her companion for years, and,
except when the actual terror of falling once again into her husband's
hands was upon her, she had come to bear it with resignation and
patience. She had, of late years, endured far more on her child's
account than on her own; and to find that Lucia met her share of
suffering with such steady courage, and still had the same tender and
clinging love for herself, was an inexpressible relief. She had faith in
the words she had said on the night when the story of her life had been
told, she believed that a better happiness might yet come to that
beloved child than the one she had lost. So she lived in greater peace
than she had done for years before.

But her greatest anxiety at this moment regarded Mr. Leigh and Maurice.
She had waited for news of Maurice's arrival in England and reception by
his grandfather, before writing to him, as she had promised to do. For
she wished him to be able to decide, on receiving her letter, what was
the best plan for Mr. Leigh's comfort, in case he should himself be
detained in Norfolk. The accounts which the first mail brought showed
plainly that this would be the case. Mr. Beresford had immediately taken
a fancy to his grandson, and would scarcely spare him out of his sight.
Mrs. Costello, therefore, wrote to Maurice, telling him that the time
she had half anticipated had really arrived, a