“So much the better.”

The effect upon Clara of the information she had received was very serious.  Deeply as she had been afflicted, the consciousness of having done right in refusing to marry a man who was destitute, as she had accidentally discovered, of virtuous principles, sustained her.  But now it was revealed to her that he was as excellent as she had at first believed him, and that she had been made the victim of a pleasant joke!  There was no longer any thing to hold her up, and accordingly her spirits completely forsook her, and in less than two weeks she was seriously ill.

The news of this deeply disturbed Mr. Mears, who had written to Fisher, and was waiting impatiently for an answer.

“I am afraid we have made the matter worse,” he said to his wife, who, on returning from a visit to Clara, reported that, so far from improving, she was too evidently sinking, daily.  “If Fisher should have entered into another engagement, or, if his pride has taken fire at being thrown off on what may appear to him such slight grounds, I really tremble for the consequences.”

“Let us hope for the best,” returned Mrs. Mears, “as we have acted for the best.  It was plainly our duty to do as we have done.  On that subject I have no doubt.”

Two more weeks of painful suspense and anxiety passed.  Clara did not improve in the least.  Mrs. Mears called to see her every few days, but dared not venture to tell her that her husband had written to Fisher.  She was afraid to fill her mind with this hope, lest it should fail, and the shock prove too severe.  But, even as it was, life seemed to be rapidly ebbing away.

At length there came a change.  Nature rallied, and life, flowed, though feebly still, in healthier currents through the veins of Clara Grant.  In a week from the time this change took place, she was able to leave her bed and set up for a few hours each day.  But all who looked into her young face were grieved at the sight.  There were no deep lines of distress there, but the marks of patient, yet hopeless suffering.

One day, she sat alone, in a dreamy, musing state, with a book lying upon her lap.  She had been trying to read, but found it impossible to take any interest in the pages over which her eyes passed, while her mind scarcely apprehended the sense.  Some one opened the door; but she did not look around.  The person, whoever it was, remained only for a moment or two, and then withdrew.  In a little while the door opened again, and some one entered and came towards her with the tread of a man.  She started to her feet, while her heart gave a sudden bound.  As she turned, her eyes fell upon the form of her long absent lover.  For an instant, perhaps longer, she looked into his face to read it as the index of his heart, and then she lay quivering on his bosom.

A few weeks later, Clara became the bride of Charles Fisher, and left with him for the South.  Neither of them ever knew the authors of the wrong they had suffered.  It was better, perhaps, that in this they should remain ignorant.