--I
resisted--I went on. All for Knowledge! all for Knowledge!"

His brother's presence was forgotten. His dark face turned livid; his
gigantic frame shuddered; his breath came and went in deep sobbing
gasps--it was terrible to see him and hear him.

Lemuel slunk out of the room. The jackal had roused the lion; the
mean spirit of mischief in him had not bargained for this. "I begin to
believe in the devil," he said to himself when he got to the house door.

As he descended the steps, a carriage appeared in the lane. A footman
opened the gate of the enclosure. The carriage approached the house,
with a lady in it.

Lemuel ran back to his brother. "Here's a lady coming!" he said. "You're
in a nice state to see her! Pull yourself together, Nathan--and, damn
it, wash your hands!"

He took Benjulia's arm, and led him upstairs.

When Lemuel returned to the hall, Mrs. Gallilee was ascending the
house-steps. He bowed profoundly, in homage to the well-preserved
remains of a fine woman. "My brother will be with you directly, ma'am.
Pray allow me to give you a chair."

His hat was in his hand. Mrs. Gallilee's knowledge of the world easily
set him down at his true value. She got rid of him with her best grace.
"Pray don't let me detain you, sir; I will wait with pleasure."

If she had been twenty years younger the hint might have been thrown
away. As it was, Lemuel retired.

CHAPTER XXXIII.

An unusually long day's work at the office had fatigued good Mr. Mool.
He pushed aside his papers, and let his weary eyes rest on a glass vase
full of flowers on the table--a present from a grateful client. As a
man, he enjoyed the lovely colours of the nosegay. As a botanist, he
lamented the act which had cut the flowers from their parent stems, and
doomed them to a premature death. "I should not have had the heart to do
it myself," he thought; "but tastes differ."

The office boy came into the room, with a visiting card in his hand.

"I'm going home to dinner," said Mr. Mool. "The person must call
to-morrow."

The boy laid the card on the table. The person was Mrs. Gallilee.

Mrs. Gallilee, at seven o'clock in the evening! Mrs. Gallilee, without a
previous appointment by letter! Mr. Mool trembled under the
apprehension of some serious family emergency, in imminent need of legal
interference. He submitted as a matter of course. "Show the lady in."

Before a word had passed between them, the lawyer's mind was relieved.
M