WYLDER'S HjVVD.
349
the pocket of his shooting coat. The peevish glance with
which he eyed it betrayed a presentiment of something
unpleasant.
"Any answer required?"
"No, sir, please — only to leave it."
"Very well; that's all. Say I am sorry to hear she
is suffering; and, if I can find time, I hope to see her to-
day; and remember to say I have not read her letter, but
if I find it requires an answer, it shall have one."
He looked round, like a man newly-awakened, and up
among the great boughs and interlacing foliage of the
noble trees, and the child made him two courtesies, and
departed towards Redman's Farm.
Lake sauntered back toward the Hall. On his wajT,
a rustic seat under the shadow invited him, &nd he sat
down, drawing Rachel's letter from his pocket. Having
got his cigar well lighted, he leaned back, and broke the
seal, and read as follows:
"I write to you, my beloved and only brother, Stan-
ley, in an altered state of mind, and with clearer views
of duty than, I think, I have ever had before."
"Just as I conjectured," muttered Stanley, with a
bitter smile, as he shook the ashes off his cigar — "a
woman's homily."
He read on, and a livid frown gradually contracted his
forehead as he did so.
"I do not know, Stanley, what your feelings may be.
Mine have been the same ever since that night in which
I was taken into a confidence so dreadful. The circum-
stances are fearful; but far more dreadful to me, the mys-
tery in which I have lived ever since. I sometimes think
I have only myself to blame. But you know, my poor
brother, why I consented, and with what agony. I did
not know, until it was too late, how great was my guilt.