and laid herself down to die; to die a double death, for herself and
the fatherless babe that was now quick within her.

But, in fact, life had still much to offer, both to her and her child.
For her it was still destined that she should, in a distant land, be
the worthy wife of a good husband, and the happy mother of many
children. For that embryo one it was destined--but that may not be so
quickly told: to describe her destiny this volume has yet to be
written.

Even in those bitterest days God tempered the wind to the shorn lamb.
Dr Thorne was by her bedside soon after the bloody tidings had reached
her, and did for her more than either her lover or her brother could
have done. When the baby was born, Scatcherd was still in prison, and
had still three months' more confinement to undergo. The story of her
great wrongs and cruel usage as much talked of, and men said that one
who had been so injured should be regarded as having in nowise sinned
at all.

One man, at any rate, so thought. At twilight, one evening, Thorne was
surprised by a visit from a demure Barchester hardware dealer, whom he
did not remember ever to have addressed before. This was the former
lover of the poor Mary Scatcherd. He had a proposal to make and it was
this:--if Mary would consent to leave the country at once, to leave it
without notice from her brother, or talk or eclat on the matter, he
would sell all that he had, marry her, and emigrate. There was but one
condition; she must leave her baby behind her. The hardware-man could
find it in his heart to be generous, to be generous and true to his
love; but he could not be generous enough to father the seducer's
child.