Out of her sphere - University Library

MR. THORNTON SPEAKS AT LAST. 201
for the rich and one for the poor," Clare
said to herself, " and they'll never hang a
bishop's son, and an earl's nephew." But
Audley Dale would be humbled to the very
dust, ashamed to show his face in his own
land—Miss Lisdale would give him up, his
family abandon him—he would become such
an object that even if he sued to Charlotte
Clare, she would think him too vile for her
acceptance. That was the prospect before
her, that was the delicious morsel on which
she was gloating day and night, and that
was what Mr. Thornton might deprive her
of, if he rallied in time to give his account
of what had happened to his wife the last
day she left St. Hilda Eectory.
Clare was seriously disquieted on this
account when she left him. She had kept
Mr. Harben from seeing how matters really
were, to-day, but she might not be able to
do so to-morrow, and if it had not been
that she had such a belief in Deb's stu-