sister's girlhood. The deadly shock of his sudden death had
been her first sorrow; and those ghastly whispers which she had
heard from the servants in the nursery, and had never forgotten,
because of the hushed and mysterious manner, had but lately started
into full force and meaning, on the tongues of the plain-spoken
poor.

She gazed, and thought of the wrecked life that might have been so
rich in joys; nay, her tenderness for her father could not hide from
her how unlike his old age was from that of Mr. Bowater, or of any
men who had done their service to their generation in all noble
exertion. He had always indeed been her darling, her charge; but
she had never known what it was to look up to him with the fervent
belief and enthusiasm she had seen in other girls. To have him
amused, loitering from reading-room to parade or billiard-room, had
been all that she aspired to, and only lately had she unwillingly
awakened to the sense how and why this was--and why the family were
aliens in their ancestral home.

"And Camilla, who knew all--knew, and lived through the full force
of the blight and misery--would persuade me that it all means
nothing, and is a mere amusing trifle! Trifle, indeed, that breaks
hearts and leads to despair and self-destruction and dishonour! No,
no, no--nothing shall lead me to a gamester! though Frank may be
lost to me! He will be! he will be! We deserve that he should be!
I deserve it--if family sins fall on individuals--I deserve it! It
is better for him--better--better. And yet, can he forget--any more
than I--that sunny day--? Oh! was she luring him on false
pretences? What shall I do? How will it be? Where is my
counsellor? Emily, Emily, why did you die?"

Emily's portrait--calm, sweet, wasted, with grave trustful eyes--was
in the next page. The lonely girl turned to it, and gazed, and
drank in the soothing influence of the countenance that had never
failed to reply with motherly aid and counsel. It rested the
throbbing heart; and presently, with hands clasped and head bent,
Eleonora Vivian knelt in the little light closet she had fitted as
an oratory, and there poured out her perplexities and sorrows.

CHAPTER X
A Truant

Since for your pleasure you came here,
You shall go back for mine.--COWPER

"How like Dunstone you have made this room!" said Raymond, entering
his wife's apartment with a compliment that he knew would be
appreciated.

Cecil turned ro