16 MAY-FAIR DAY AND

“I believe it,” returned Dorothy, “ and I will not
repine ; nor is it for this that I came here to-night. I
came here to ask your forgiveness for many faults, for
much impatience, for much obstinacy, and perhaps in
part to explain what has not been clear in me, espe-
cially as regards my unwillingness to visit Leonard.
Ah, you will then see, Joanna, what reason I have
to sympathise with you, for I have suffered like you !
J was very happy whilst I was with Leonard: you
know it; but neither he nor you know what it was
that really constituted my happiness, and then made
the bitterness of my misery. I loved—loved deeply
and truly. Nay, do not start, Joanna—the joy and
the misery are both past. I have resigned the dearest
. hopes of my soul at God’s requiring, and the time of
peace is now come!”

Dorothy was silent 2 few moments, and Joanna
wiped away both her own tears and those which
flowed from the darkened eyes of her sister.

“You have heard of Henry Ashdown, the squire’s
nephew. Leonard mentioned him in his letters— in
the first letter, I remember, that ever he sent to us
from Winston. He was a gay, but good-hearted
young man, Leonard said. On the very day of my
arrival at Winston, Leonard told me that Mrs. Ash-
down, Henry’s mother, who had been for many years —
a sad invalid, was then at the Hall, for her health ;
that, for her piety and many remarkable virtues, he
had become much attached to her; and that it was
his wish that I should contribute as much as possible
to her comfort and amusement. I went often to see
her, and thus Henry and I met. I loved the mother ;
but ah, I loved also the son. The mother made me
the minister of her mercies to the poor, for she was