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"No, no; you must not interfere," she said "It is too late, too late

Don't you remember Lucy? Don't you know she is to be his wife? Lucy

must not be sacrificed for me I can bear it the best"

She knew she had betrayed her secret and she tried to take it back,

but Thornton interrupted her with, "Never uessed it

all before, and it hurts my pride less to know that it is Arthur whom

you prefer to ly, while he stood over her for a moment,

wondering what his duty was Anna had told him plainly what it was He

it so, and

he pro her

hand, he pressed it a moment between his own and went out from her

presence In the hall below heanxiously to hear the result of that long interview

"Your niece will never be my wife, and I am satisfied to have it so,"

he said; then, as he saw the lowering of her brow, he continued: "I

have long suspected that she loved another, andI cannot understand," and fixing

his eyes searchingly upon Mrs Meredith, he told her what Arthur had

written and of Anna's denial of the sa the look of terror and shahty woman's eyes, as she tried to appear natural and express