"You shall stay, sir--you shall stay," said he, laying his
hand on my shoulder as he sat down beside me, with a smiling
face. "Rayel loves you. He hopes you will stay. He thinks
God sent you to us."

"I am glad, for I wish to stay," I said.

"Good!" he exclaimed, in a long whisper. "You have brought
the world to him. Already he has seen it in your eyes. But
it is good!"

While I ate he asked me questions touching the changes in
our family since he left England.

I told him of my life at home after my father's death; of my
hard lot in Liverpool, and of the midnight interviews with
his messenger and with Mr. Earl. He listened to me with
grave and attentive interest, but stopped me before I had
finished, with an impatient gesture.

"Speak out! they meant--they meant to kill you, didn't
they?"

I stared at him in amazement, while ideas that were new to
me flocked into the empyrean of thought like black birds of
prey. Oh, no; I had never suspected that! I would never
before have permitted such a hideous suspicion to enter my
mind. Was it possible that Mr. Earl had sent me away from
England in order to save my life? My hands began to tremble,
and I felt my face turning red and pale under the searching