"All this is mine!" she said. "I have every wish of my heart at last! I have luxury such as I never dreamed of—magnificence suited for a queen! I have a title that makes music in my ears! I have one of the noblest earls in England for my father! Ah, how near I have been to losing all this; even now I might lose it if that terrible secret of mine became known—it would be taken from me. My father would forgive me many things, but never that."
She stood quite still; the color faded from her beautiful face; a cold chill seized her.
"How foolish I am," she said. "What need have I to fear? Only one other person knows my secret, and he would be the last, I know, to make it known. If ever he attempts it, he shall die!"
Then she laughed; but there was something dreary in the laugh.
"I shall never see him again," she said to herself; "and if I did—if he declared that he knew me—I should look quite steadily in his face and say—swear, if necessary—that in all my life I had never met him before. I am Studleigh enough to have nerve for that. Who was my mother, I wonder? Some one of whom the earl is evidently ashamed; therefore she can have little interest for me."
CHAPTER LI.
A NOBLEMAN'S GENEROSITY.
Notwithstanding all the kindness and hospitality that the earl had shown to Mark, it was some relief to the farmer to know that when morning dawned he was that day to return home. The grandeur of Linleigh Court oppressed him; he longed to be with his laborers and his cattle, at work.
The earl took breakfast with them; Lady Doris was not down—"she was tired," the maid said.
"I was afraid it would be too much for her," said Mrs. Brace. "I am sure, my lord, the more I think of it, the more wonderful it seems."