With a slight motion, unconsciously, unwillingly, but not the less positively, she repulsed her mother's caress as she answered her question.
"I have accepted him, mamma; that is, of course, if you do not object." "My own, own child!" said the countess, seizing her daughter in her arms, and pressing her to her bosom.

And in truth Clara was, now probably for the first time, her own heart's daughter.

Her son, though he was but a poor earl, was Earl of Desmond.

He too, though in truth but a poor earl, was not absolutely destitute,--would in truth be blessed with a fair future.

But Lady Clara had hitherto been felt only as a weight.