"Julia!" she faintly uttered--"is this Julia's voice!" "It is Julia, Penelope! I am come to seek my promised home, for elsewhere there is none!" "Welcome, a thousand welcomes!" cried Mrs. Spottiswoode, springing towards Lady Ennismore, and clasping her to her heart with a straining pressure--"oh! welcome, whatever event may have brought my lost Julia home!" "Home!" replied Lady Ennismore--"home! Have I been obliged to return from whence I came, to find a home!" Lady Ennismore shuddered as she spoke, and fell senseless in the still close embrace of her friend. "Chrystal!" cried Mrs. Spottiswoode, "bolt the door: let no one enter this room!" Miss Wetheral obeyed in silence, and she then assisted Mrs. Spottiswoode in conveying her sister to the sofa, where she remained extended till her consciousness gradually returned. Mrs. Spottiswoode trembled, but her powers of thought were clear and undisturbed. She spoke low, as Lady Ennismore lay in blessed forgetfulness of present sufferings. "Chrystal, we will carry Julia into your room when she recovers, and here my angel friend will be tranquil. I will trust--I _know_ she is blameless! but a thousand errors would not change my love, or the devotion with which I will watch over her for ever. If all the world deserted her, she would be _my_ own dear friend; but for her fame's sake, I hope--no, it is _not_ so--it is _not_ so!" Christobelle gazed in astonishment at her sister's extended form. She mechanically obeyed Mrs. Spottiswoode's directions, but her mind was a chaos. She heard her remarks, though she did not reply to them; she could not withdraw her eyes from the object which absorbed all her wonder. "Chrystal," continued Mrs. Spottiswoode, as she chafed Julia's temples with eau de Cologne, "there has been dreadful work to bring my blessed friend to this! Her spirit has been dealt with beyond her powers of endurance, to urge this step; but I, Penelope, am with her, and she is again at Lidham. I bless the events which have brought her from banishment, and given her again to her friends!" A slight pressure from the hand which was clasped by Mrs. Spottiswoode, attested returning animation in Lady Ennismore, and proved that she heard and understood her friends' words. Mrs. Spottiswoode proceeded with deep feeling. "Julia, you hear me--you hear your friend declare, that she cannot mourn the cause which has given her back the companion of her early days. We were ever together, Julia, and together we enjoyed our first step upon the gay stage of our pleasures. We will also walk together through the waters of adversity, and our sorrows shall be, as our joys have been, borne in fellowship. I am Penelope Wycherly in _heart_, and you are Julia Wetheral. We will part no more, my own dear, ill-used friend!" Lady Ennismore raised her head from its pillow with effort.