"Oh, mamma!"

"You had better come on to the house, my dear, and speak to me
there. In the mean time, collect your thoughts, and remember this,
Clara, that you have the honour of a great family to maintain."

Poor Clara! what had the great family done for her, or how had she
been taught to maintain its honour? She knew that she was an earl's
daughter, and that people called her Lady Clara; whereas other young
ladies were only called Miss So-and-So. But she had not been taught
to separate herself from the ordinary throng of young ladies by any
other distinction. Her great family had done nothing special for
her, nor placed before her for example any grandly noble deeds. At
that old house at Desmond Court company was scarce, money was
scarce, servants were scarce. She had been confided to the care of a
very ordinary governess; and if there was about her anything that
was great or good, it was intrinsically her own, and by no means due
to intrinsic advantages derived from her grand family. Why should
she not give what was so entirely her own to one whom she loved, to
one by whom it so pleased her to be loved?

And then they entered the house, and Clara followed her mother to
the countess's own small upstairs sitting-room. The daughter did not
ordinarily share this room with her mother, and when she entered it,
she seldom did so with pleasurable emotion. At the present moment
she had hardly strength to close the door after her.

"And now, Clara, what is all this?" said the countess, sitting down
in her accustomed chair.