voice.

"Say not so, my dear young friend."

But Clara shook her head.

It was in vain that Mrs. Mears strove earnestly to lift up her
drooping heart. The calmness with which she had been able to bear
the destruction of all her hopes, because there had seemed an
adequate cause for the sacrifice she had made, was all gone now.
There had been no adequate cause for the sacrifice. Her lover was as
excellent and honourable as she at first believed him to be, and she
had cast him off on the authority of a heartless jest. To all that
her friend could say, she had but one reply to make--

"It is too late now!"

"Not too late, I trust," said Mr. Mears, a good deal disturbed by
his wife's relation of her interview with Clara. "I must ascertain
where Fisher is, and write to him on the subject. Did she say any
thing that led you to believe that she recognised the voices of the
persons whom she heard conversing? Do you think she suspects me in
the matter?"

"I do not think she does."

"So much the better."

The effect upon Clara of the information she had received was very
serious. Deeply as she had been afflicted, the consciousness of