"Don't cry, auntie; she loves us all the same." And he kissed the fair
cheek which now lay against his own as his aunt knelt beside his bed.
"Go to sleep, dear love; to-morrow you shall take me to see your garden
and the pony."
"You will be sure to come?"
"Yes, quite sure."
In a few minutes the clasp of the warm little hand relaxed, and
Katherine gently disengaged herself.
"The boys are no longer first in their mother's heart," thought
Katherine, as she returned to the drawing-room. "Were they ever first?
They are--they might become all the world to me. They might fill my life
and give it a fresh aspect. The new ties at which Mr. Newton hinted can
never exist for me. Could I accept an honorable man and live with a
perpetual secret between us? Could I ever confess? No. My most hopeful
scheme is to be a mother to these children. And oh! I do want to be
happy, to feel the joy in life that used to lift up my spirit in the old
days when we were struggling with poverty! I _will_ throw off this load
of self-contempt. I have not really injured any one."
In the drawing-room Colonel Ormonde was seated beside Lady Alice, making
conversation to the best of his ability. She looked serenely content,
and held a piece of crochet, the kind of fancy-work which occupied the
young ladies in the "sixties.
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