"Well, my child--my child!" the kind woman repeated the word twice, with a sort of bashful pleasure, for they sprung to her lips like honey-dew. "Oh, I wish so much that you were indeed my mother, for then I could tell you how--how very unhappy I am." Lady Phipps bent down, removed the bright hair from the young girl's forehead, and kissed it tenderly. "I _am_ your mother, darling; she who is dead could scarcely have loved you more; now tell me what this trouble is." Elizabeth turned her face, and buried it in the lady's robe. "This lady--this strange woman--this Barbara Stafford--oh, send her away!" "Why, what of her, my child?--remember she is our invited guest, a stranger, and--" "I know--I know all that, but she is killing me--she drinks up my life like a vampire." "Like a vampire--that pleasant, noble woman! Why Bessy child, you must be ill!" "There, there! she has fascinated you like the rest; I have nobody left to care about or pity me; she has dried up every little spring of love that I used to drink at, and nobody sees it." Elizabeth rose to her feet, flinging back the curls from her face with both hands, and casting glances of reproach upon the lady. "_You_ against me--_you_ her friend--I hope you will never live to repent of it!" "My dear child!" "Don't call me that; I won't be the child of _her_ friend! You have seen it all: how she came with her smiles and her bright words to steal the heart that belonged to me--you have seen them together half the time in the garden--in the portico--wherever the place was shady, and no one likely to intrude. Then you ask me with that kind voice, just as ever, 'Elizabeth, what is it troubles you?'" Lady Phipps could not help smiling a little, for, occupied with her own pleasant duties, she had scarcely noticed the things of which Elizabeth complained, and this outbreak of jealousy amused, while it distressed her. "Bessie, this is childish--it is absurd--of course Norman would do every thing in his power to amuse our guest--it is his duty; besides, you know he saved her life, and that counts for a great deal. We always like those we have served; nothing is more natural!" "But we do not forget our old friends--we do not abandon all the world for them!" "Nor has Lovel. Be patient till the novelty of this visit is worn away." Lady Phipps held out her hand with a pleading tenderness that brought the wayward girl to her feet again. "Foolish child!" she said, taking the fair young face between both hands and kissing it. "Foolish, foolish child!" "You would not think it foolish if she had snared Sir William, and shut his heart against you!" Lady Phipps dropped her hands slowly, and a strange look came to her eyes. "You talk wildly, Elizabeth," she said, in a faltering voice.