“Suspect this! suspect my birth! suspect my shame! Oh, woman, woman! you found me proud and joyous! how could I have suspected this? You found me living! how could I have suspected this and lived?” she exclaimed, in a voice of indescribable grief and reproach, and then her form subsided, as it were, prostrate, among the cushions. And so it was throughout the scene; frequent convulsive outbreaks of anguish would be instantly followed by the prostration of all strength. And then she lay with her hands pressed upon her face a long time perfectly still, but for an occasional start and shudder. She lay there, with Elsie sitting by her side, until the clock struck eight—the marriage hour. Mrs. Garnet then approached, and, kneeling by her, embraced and kissed her, saying: “My dear girl, my daughter, rouse yourself. The bitter trial of this needless revelation has shocked you nearly to death. But it will pass away, as all trials must, my love. Garnet, I, too, have had trials in my time, heart-crushing disappointments and sorrows, from which I thought I never could recover. But I have recovered, you see. My sorrows are gone, long ago; gone down the stream of the past, and I have been happy for years. So it will be with you. We all think our first sorrow is to kill us, but it does not. We live and recover. So you will find it. This sudden revelation has overwhelmed you, but you will get over it. We will make you forget it. You will be an honorable and honored wife. You will be loved and happy. Come, rouse yourself! Your marriage hour has struck. Your husband waits you even now; come! Give me your hand! Garnet!” “My marriage hour has struck! My husband waits me now! Oh, madam, do you then believe me base in soul as in birth?” exclaimed the miserable girl, with bitterness. “In the name of Heaven, what mean you?” “Do you think that I, stripped of all other possessions, will carry my dower of shame to my husband’s home?” “In the name of mercy, what do you mean?” asked Alice, in alarm. “Oh, merely this, that this marriage must not and shall not proceed! Oh, no! Dr. Hutton must never blush for his wife’s parentage!” Mrs. Garnet glanced at Elsie in despair. Elsie here interposed her blooming face and hopeful voice, saying: “Miss Seabright, as I told you before, I have no grand sentiments, but I have some good sense, and it seems to me, as it takes two to make an engagement, it takes two to break it, honestly; I think, as you have plighted your troth to Hugh Hutton, you might consult him before breaking faith with him, for such a cause, at the very last moment.”