"'I wish it may, Susan,' said she; 'for your sake, and for the sake of human nature. I had rather believe it was any one than Andrew, to whom my poor father had always been so kind.'
"A sad thought crossed me then—one that would intrude—that I could not keep away—a dreadful thought—and as I looked on her sweet unsuspecting face, I wept for her.
"'However,' said she, 'we must leave it to Heaven. If your brother is innocent, I believe, with you, that the truth will some day come to light and prove him so; but in the mean time, my poor girl, what is to become of you? I cannot keep you in my service; and indeed I should think you would not desire to stay.'
"'I should desire it, and prefer it to all things,' I replied, 'if it were possible; but I know it is not. I am aware that, not to mention your own feelings, the world would blame you; and that for many reasons it cannot be.'
"'I scarcely know what to recommend you to do,' said Miss Wentworth, and I fear no one in the neighbourhood of Oakfield would be willing to take you into their service. But I have been thinking that if you were to engage a room at Mapleton where you are known, and where your father and mother lived respected,
