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162 has been cherished from the first? Whatever be our future lots, they are cast together."

The next morning—the excitement of the foregoing midnight being past—they talked the strange history more calmly over. "I should like to know," remarked Francesca, "whether Mr. Arden has aught of proof to support his story."

"Oh! the truth is marked in every word. I would stake my life on Arden's veracity."

"Lord Avonleigh will require something more than the assertion of one whose reason is obviously disordered."

"I wish to Heaven that my grandfather had been more communicative. Beyond a vague idea of the gone-by glories of the house of Carrara, we know nothing about ourselves."

This conversation was interrupted by Arden's entrance, who, worn and dejected, seemed scarcely to know how to address his young companions, as if he feared some sudden change in their manner. Both greeted him kindly; for his suffering was more present to them than his faults. They hesitated to renew the subject, but his mind was too full to allow of his speaking on indifferent topics; and, after a few words alluding to the disclosure, he asked, "Was there any obstacle to their immediate departure for England?"