CHAPTER 2.
"Now, my dear!" Mrs.Crayford began, "what does this mean ?" "Nothing." "That won't do, Clara.

Try again." "The heat of the room--" "That won't do, either.

Say that you choose to keep your own secrets, and I shall understand what you mean." Clara's sad, clear gray eyes looked up for the first time in Mrs.
Crayford's face, and suddenly became dimmed with tears.
"If I only dared tell you!" she murmured.

"I hold so to your good opinion of me, Lucy--and I am so afraid of losing it." Mrs.Crayford's manner changed.

Her eyes rested gravely and anxiously on Clara's face.
"You know as well as I do that nothing can shake my affection for you," she said.