e her to
defend her aunt; nor at the present moment was she strong enough to
make her mother understand that no hope was to be entertained. In the
course of the day she walked out with her sister on the road towards
Ridleigh, and there, standing among the rocks and ferns, looking down
upon the river, with the buzz of the little mill within her ears,
she explained the feelings of her heart and her many thoughts with a
flow of words stronger, as Priscilla thought, than she had ever used
before.

"It is not what he would suffer now, Pris, or what he would feel, but
what he would feel ten, twenty years hence, when he would know that
his children would have been all provided for, had he not lost his
fortune by marrying me."

"He must be the only judge whether he prefers you to the old woman's
money," said Priscilla.

"No, dear; not the only judge. And it isn't that, Pris,--not which
he likes best now, but which it is best for him that he should have.
What could I do for him?"

"You can love him."

"Yes;--I can do that." And Dorothy paused a moment, to think how
exceedingly well she could do that one thing. "But what is that? As
you said the other day, a dog can do that. I am not clever. I can't
play, or talk French, or do things that men like their wives to do.
And I have lived here all my life; and what am I, that for me he
should lose a great fortune?"

"That is his look out."

"No, dearest;--it is mine, and I will look out. I shall be able, at
any rate, to remember always that I have loved him, and have not
injured him. He may be angry with me now,"--and there was a feeling
of pride at her heart, as she thought that he would be angry with
her, because she did not go to him,--"but he will know at last that I
have been as good to him as I knew how to be."

Then Priscilla wound her arms round Dorothy, and kissed her.
"My sister," she said; "my own sister!" They walked on further,
discussing the matter in all its bearings, talking of the act of
self-denial which Dorothy was called on to perform, as though it were
some abstract thing, the performance of which was, or perhaps was
not, imperatively demanded by the laws which should govern humanity;
but with no idea on the mind of either of them that there was any
longer a doubt as to this special matter in hand. They were away
from home over three hours; and, when they returned, Dorothy at once
wrote her two letters. They were very simple, and very short. She
told B