Surprised and grieved at the effect which his words had produced on Lady Hatfield—yet unable to comprehend wherefore the mere mention of a name should have so seriously touched her feelings,—the Earl gazed upon her with interest and curiosity.
At length a faint tinge of red appeared upon her cheeks; and, with reviving strength, she sate up on the sofa, motioning the young nobleman to take a chair near her.
"Arthur," she said, "I ought not to have kept that one secret from you—for are we not now brother and sister? But, alas! you—with your generous heart and fine feelings—can well understand how painful it is for me to speak of my own dishonour,—and the more so, since that degradation—that deep disgrace was caused by him who is nearly allied to you."
"What! can it be possible?" exclaimed the Earl, a sudden light breaking in upon him: "that child—that boy, whom Rainford has adopted as his own——"
"Is mine!" said Georgiana, in a voice of despair;—and, covering her face with her hands, she burst into an agony of tears.
The Earl of Ellingham started from his seat, and began to pace the room in a manner denoting the most painful excitement.
He was, indeed, deeply afflicted.
How wronged—how profoundly wronged had Georgiana been!—and by him who, as she herself had said, was so nearly allied to him!
Oh! Tom Rain—Tom Rain! that was the darkest episode in thy life!
Thus thought the Earl likewise;—and bitter was his sorrow at the revival of such appalling reminiscences as those which now rent Lady Hatfield's heart with anguish, and called forth the floods of grief from her eyes.