Page:Ethel Churchill 2.pdf/264

It would be difficult to say on which party the name of the other produced the greatest effect. With Ethel there was the one association: this, then, was Courtenaye's uncle, whose daughter he had married. The whole past rose vividly before her—all her sorrow, all her suffering. The tears started, but pride repressed them; or, rather, pride is no name for the sensitive and shrinking feeling which trembles even at compassion for its misery. It was very painful to Ethel to seek aid from Lord Norbourne. Had she consulted her own wishes, she would have withdrawn at once; but it was a sacred duty to advance her grandmother's cause by every possible means: and, moreover, was not the listener in complete ignorance of the agitation he caused by his presence? She little knew how well Lord Norbourne was acquainted with her name; or how large a share he had had in her unhappiness. Her appearance produced on him an emotion which even his calm and polished manner could scarcely conceal. She brought to him the image of Constance; thus at once unlock-