They Meet Again

The murmur of the two voices at the further end of the conservatory
ceased. The billiard-room door opened again slowly, by an inch at a
time.

Mercy still kept her place, unconscious of the events that were passing
round her. Sinking under the hard stress laid on it, her mind had
drifted little by little into a new train of thought. For the first time
she found the courage to question the future in a new way. Supposing
her confession to have been made, or supposing the woman whom she had
personated to have discovered the means of exposing the fraud, what
advantage, she now asked herself, would Miss Roseberry derive from Mercy
Merrick's disgrace?

Could Lady Janet transfer to the woman who was really her relative
by marriage the affection which she had given to the woman who had
pretended to be her relative? No! All the right in the world would not
put the true Grace into the false Grace's vacant place. The qualities
by which Mercy had won Lady Janet's love were the qualities which were
Mercy's won. Lady Janet could do rigid justice--but hers was not the
heart to give itself to a stranger (and to give itself unreservedly) a
second time. Grace Roseberry would be formally acknowledged--and there
it would end.

Was there hope in this new view?

Yes! There was the false hope of making the inevitable atonement by some
other means than by the confession of the fraud.

What had Grace Roseberry actually lost by the wrong done to her? She
had lost the salary of Lady Janet's "companion and reader." Say that she
wanted money, Mercy had her savings from the generous allowance made
to her by Lady Janet; Mercy could offer money. Or say that she wanted
employment, Mercy's interest with Lady Janet could offer employment,
could offer anything Grace might ask for, if she would only come to
terms.