For that I wandered here to unmask him.

I had heard he again stirred his suit to Clara, and I came here to tell young Mowbray the whole .-- But do you wonder that I shrunk from doing so till this last decisive moment ?--I thought of my conduct to Clara, and how could I face her brother ?--And yet I hated her not after I learned her utter wretchedness--her deep misery, verging even upon madness--I hated her not then.

I was sorry that she was not to fall to the lot of a better man than Bulmer;--and I pitied her after she was rescued by Tyrrel, and you may remember it was I who prevailed on you to conceal her marriage." "I remember it," answered Cargill, "and that you alleged, as a reason for secrecy, danger from her family.

I did conceal it, until reports that she was again to be married reached my ears." "Well, then," said the sick woman, "Clara Mowbray ought to forgive me--since what ill I have done her was inevitable, while the good I did was voluntary .-- I must see her, Josiah Cargill--I must see her before I die--I shall never pray till I see her--I shall never profit by word of godliness till I see her! If I cannot obtain the pardon of a worm like myself, how can I hope for that of"---- She started at these words with a faint scream; for slowly, and with a feeble hand, the curtains of the bed opposite to the side at which Cargill sat, were opened, and the figure of Clara Mowbray, her clothes and long hair drenched and dripping with rain, stood in the opening by the bedside.

The dying woman sat upright, her eyes starting from their sockets, her lips quivering, her face pale, her emaciated hands grasping the bed-clothes, as if to support herself, and looking as much aghast as if her confession had called up the apparition of her betrayed friend.
"Hannah Irwin," said Clara, with her usual sweetness of tone, "my early friend--my unprovoked enemy!--Betake thee to Him who hath pardon for us all, and betake thee with confidence--for I pardon you as freely as if you had never wronged me--as freely as I desire my own pardon .-- Farewell--Farewell!" She retired from the room, ere the clergyman could convince himself that it was more than a phantom which he beheld.