"No, I am sure you cannot. Arthur told me, Captain Clair, I mean, that he had been talking to papa about me, and that he loved me now, though he once thought he could love no one but you, and indeed, dear Mabel, he spoke so kindly and affectionately that--" "I understand you love," said Mabel, embracing her, "I thought so--I hoped so a long time since." "You thought so," said Lucy, "impossible! I never could even have dreamt of such a thing yesterday." "I tell you so," replied her cousin, "because I always knew his love for me only arose from the enthusiasm of circumstances; while those same circumstances only made him disapprove of you, as much as you did of yourself. I knew he could not see you so changed without really loving you." "And do you think I shall ever be good enough for him?" "Only keep as you are, and he will be quite satisfied." "And, do you know that the doctors say, that if he returns to India it will kill him; and he has been for a long time wishing to become a clergyman; and now he has quite made up his mind, and he has entered his name at the college, at Dublin, which is the easiest way he says." "That will be very, very nice, for we shall keep you both with us," exclaimed Mabel. "I am so very, very happy." "And," almost whispered Lucy, "he so much wishes to be married on the same day that you and Henry are; but I hardly know whether mamma will consent." "Oh, I dare say she will," said Mabel, "and I am glad of it for your sake." Further conversation was interrupted by the dressing bell, and Lucy hurried away. As Mabel had anticipated, there was little difficulty in getting Mrs. Villars's consent, when it was formally demanded by Clair, for in this piece of unexpected good fortune she hoped to find, at least a temporary respite, from the malice of her two disappointed children. In this, however, she was mistaken, for the marriage of their sister was no satisfaction to their jealous minds, and they did not fail to show their impression of their mother's injustice, on every occasion, and quite destroyed the pleasure she would have taken in providing Lucy's _trousseau_.