ce, saw that in truth he was very serious;--so much so that she
knew that he had come there on account of his seriousness. But still
his sorrow did not in any degree go to her heart. He was grieving
doubtless for his father,--or his mother. The house at Castle
Richmond was probably sad, because sickness and fear of death were
there;--nay perhaps death itself now hanging over some loved head.
But what was this to her? She had had her own sorrows;--enough of
them perhaps to account for her being selfish. So with a solemn face,
but with nothing amiss about her heart, she again asked for tidings
from Castle Richmond.

"Do tell us," said Clara, getting up. "I am afraid Sir Thomas is very
ill." The old baronet had been kind to her, and she did regard him.
To her it was a sorrow to think that there should be any sorrow at
Castle Richmond.

"Yes; he is ill," said Herbert. "We have had a gentleman from London
with us for the last few days--a friend of my father's. His name is
Mr. Prendergast."

"Is he a doctor?" asked the Countess.

"No, not a doctor," said Herbert. "He is a lawyer."

It was very hard for him to begin his story; and perhaps the more so
in that he was wet through and covered with mud. He now felt cold and
clammy, and began to have an idea that he should not be seated there
in that room in such a guise. Clara, too, had instinctively learned
from his face, and tone, and general bearing that something truly was
the matter. At other times when he had been there, since that day on
which he had been accepted, he had been completely master of himself.
Perhaps it had almost been deemed a fault in him that he had had none
of the timidity or hesitation of a lover. He had seemed to feel, no
doubt, that he, with his fortune and position at his back, need feel
no scruple in accepting as his own the fair hand for which he had
asked. But now--nothing could be more different from this than his
manner was now.

Lady Desmond was now surprised, though probably not as yet
frightened. Why should a lawyer have come from London to visit Sir
Thomas at a period of such illness? and why should Herbert have
walked over to Desmond Court to tell them of this illness? There must
be something in this lawyer's coming which was intended to bear in
some way on her daughter's marriage. "But, Herbert," she said, "you
are quite wet. Will you not put on some of Patrick's things?"

"No, thank you," said he; "I shall not stay long. I shall soo