ming forward, "forgive me that I did not
understand at once. It is no mistake at all. Oh, I am afraid you are
very much fatigued, and I ought to have known at once when I heard your
name."

He put out his hand in his deprecating way as she came close to the
chair into which he had dropped. "It is nothing--nothing--my dear young
lady: in a moment," he said.

"My Lucy," said the Contessa, "this is one of your secret bounties. I am
quite interested. But do not interrupt; let us hear it out."

"It is something which is entirely between Mr. Churchill and me," cried
Lucy. "Indeed, it would not interest you at all. But, pray, don't think
it is a mistake," she said, earnestly turning to him. "It is quite
right--it is a trust--there is nothing that need distress you. I am
obliged to do it, and you need not mind. Indeed, you must not mind. I
will tell you all about it afterwards."

"My dear young lady!" the clergyman said. He was relieved, but he was
perplexed; he turned still towards the stately lady in the chair--"If it
is really so, which I scarcely can allow myself to believe, how can I
express my obligation? It seems more than any man ought to take; it is
like a fairy tale. I have not ventured to mention it to my children, in
case,---- Thanks are nothing," he cried, with excitement; "thanks are
for a trifle, a little every-day service; but this is a fortune; it is
something beyond belief. I have been a poor man all my life, struggling
to do my best for my children; and now, what I have never been able to
do with all my exertions, you--put me in a position to do in a moment.
What am I to say to you? Words can't reach such a case. It is simply
unspeakable--incredible; and why out of all the world you should have
chosen me----"

He had to stop, his emotion getting the better of him. Bice had come
into the room while this strange scene was going on, and she stood in
the shadow, unseen by the speaker, listening too.

"Pray compose yourself," said the Contessa, in her most gracious voice.
"Your expressions are full of feeling. To have a fortune given to one
must be very delightful; it is an experience that does not often happen.
Probably a little tea, as I hear tea is coming, will restore
Mr. ---- Pardon me, they are a little difficult to catch those, your
English names."

The Contessa produced a curious idiom now and then like a work of art.
It was almost the only sign of any uncertainty in her English; and while
the poo