In the house, the women-servants were laughing over some jest or story that cheered them at their work.

It was a lively and pleasant time--a bright, enjoyable day.
The two ladies were out together; resting on a garden seat, after a walk round the grounds.
They exchanged a few trivial words relating to the beauty of the day, and then said no more.

Possessing the same consciousness of what she had seen in the trance which persons in general possess of what they have seen in a dream--believing in the vision as a supernatural revelation--Clara's worst forebodings were now, to her mind, realized as truths.

Her last faint hope of ever seeing Frank again was now at an end.

Intimate experience of her told Mrs.Crayford what was passing in Clara's mind, and warned her that the attempt to reason and remonstrate would be little better than a voluntary waste of words and time.