his name, rightly
judging that Clara would be more likely to condemn him in her own
heart if she did not hear him condemned by others: and so the mother
and daughter had gone on, as though the former had lost no friend,
and the latter had lost no lover.

For some time after the love adventure, Clara had been pale and
drooping, and the countess had been frightened about her; but
latterly she had got over this. The misfortune which had fallen so
heavily upon them all seemed to have done her good. She had devoted
herself from the first to do her little quota of work towards
lessening the suffering around her, and the effort had been salutary
to her.

Whether or no in her heart of hearts she did still think of Owen
Fitzgerald, her mother was unable to surmise. From the fire which
had flashed from her eyes on that day when she accused the world of
saying ill-natured things of him, Lady Desmond had been sure that
such was the case. But she had never ventured to probe her child's
heart. She had given very little confidence to Clara, and could not,
therefore, and did not expect confidence in return.

Nor was Clara a girl likely in such a matter to bestow confidence on
any one. She was one who could hold her heart full, and yet not speak
of her heart's fulness. Her mother had called her a child, and in
some respects she then was so; but this childishness had been caused,
not by lack of mental power, but want of that conversation with
others which is customary to girls of her age. This want had in some
respects made her childish; for it hindered her from expressing
herself in firm tones, and caused her to blush and hesitate when she
spoke. But in some respects it had the opposite effect, and made her
older than her age, for she was thoughtful, silent, and patient of
endurance.

Latterly, since this dreary famine-time had come upon them, an
intimacy had sprung up between Clara and the Castle Richmond girls,
and in a measure, too, between Clara and Herbert Fitzgerald. Lady
Desmond had seen this with great pleasure. Though she had objected
to Owen Fitzgerald for her daughter, she had no objection to the
Fitzgerald name. Herbert was his father's only son, and heir to the
finest property in the county--at any rate, to the property which at
present was the best circumstanced. Owen Fitzgerald could never be
more than a little squire, but Herbert would be a baronet. Owen's
utmost ambition would be to live at Hap House all his life