But let her beware! Despair is bold, and I may yet discover
some mode of vengeance."
While the departing traveller mused thus, a pale woman stood at one of
the windows of Raynham Castle, looking out upon the woods, over which
the moon sailed in all her glory.
"Mine!" she said to herself; "those lands and woods belong to me!--to
me, who have stood face to face with starvation!--to me, who have
considered it a privilege to sleep in an empty barn! They are mine; but
the possession of them brings no pleasure. My life has been blighted by
a wrong so cruel, that wealth and position are worthless in my eyes."
* * * * *
CHAPTER XIII.
IN YOUR PATIENCE YE ARE STRONG.
Early upon the morning after the funeral, a lad from the village of
Raynham presented himself at the principal door of the servants'
offices, and asked to see Lady Eversleigh's maid.
The young woman who filled that office was summoned, and came to
inquire the business of the messenger.
Her name was Jane Payland; she was a Londoner by birth, and a citizen
of the world by education.
She had known very little of either comfort or prosperity before she
entered the service of Lady Eversleigh. She was, therefore, in some
measure at least, devoted to the interests of that mistress, and she
was inclined to believe in her innocence; though, even to her, the
story of the night in Yarborough Tower seemed almost too wild and
improbable for belief.
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