"I have failed," he said sadly.
"Failed! Oh, Paul!"
"Mr. Stanley refuses to give up Ladybird. By her father's will, he is her guardian until she marries or reaches the age of twenty. He has the law on his side, and we seem powerless. But do not sob so bitterly, my darling, for we will try to find some way to rescue our imprisoned bird."
[CHAPTER XXXII.]
THE NUN AT THE BAL MASQUE.
"Is it true that many hands
Find that rosary a chain?
True that 'neath those snowy bands
Throbs full oft a restless brain?
True that simple robe of gray
Covers oft a troubled breast?
True that pain and passion's sway
Enters even in this rest?"
—Mary Lowe Dickinson.
Mrs. Winans hoped great things from her letter to Earle.