With sharp pain the thought struck Lady Earle, "What must not Dora have suffered to have changed her so greatly!" The sad eyes and worn face touched her as no beauty could have done.

She clasped Dora in her arms and kissed her.
"You are my daughter now," she said, in that rich, musical voice which Dora remembered so well.

"We will not mention the past; it is irrevocable.

If you sinned against duty and obedience, your face tells me you have suffered.

What has come between you and my son I do not seek to know.