d him how well, how grateful and happy, she felt
here; and when in reply to his timid question, whether it would be hard
for her to leave this place and seek another, a safer home, she gazed at
first in surprise, then anxiously into his face, and then, with an eager
gesture of refusal, gasped "Not go--not go!" He answered, soothingly:

"No, no; we are still safe here to-day!"

Elizabeth knew her husband, and had keen eyes; a presentiment of
approaching danger seized upon her. Her features assumed an expression
of terrified expectation and deep grief. The furrow in her brow
deepened, and questioning glances and gestures united with the
"What?--what?" trembling on her lips.

"Do not fear!" he replied, tenderly. "We must not spoil the present,
because the future might bring something that is not agreeable to us."

As he uttered the words, she pressed closely to him, clutching his
arm with both hands, but he felt the rapid throbbing of her heart, and
perceived by the violent agitation expressed in every feature, what
deep, unconquerable horror was inspired by the thought of being
compelled to go out into the world again, hunted from country to
country, from town to town. All that she had suffered for his sake,
came back to his memory, and he clasped her trembling hands in his with
passionate fervor. It seemed as if it would be very, very easy, to die
with her, but wholly impossible to thrust her forth again into a foreign
land and to an uncertain fate; so, kissing her on her eyes, which were
dilated with horrible fear, he exclaimed, as if no peril, but merely a
foolish wish had suggested the desire to roam:

"Yes, child, it is best here. Let us be content with what we have. We
will stay!--yes, we will stay!" Elizabeth drew a long breath, as if
relieved from an incubus, her brow became smooth, and it seemed as if
the dumb mouth joined the large upraised eyes in uttering an "Amen,"
that came from the inmost depths of the heart.

Costa's soul was saddened and sorely troubled, when he returned to the
house and his writing-table. The old maid-servant, who had accompanied
him from Portugal, entered at the same time, and watched his
preparations, shaking her head. She was a small, crippled Jewess, a
grey-haired woman, with youthful, bright, dark eyes, and restless hands,
that fluttered about her face with rapid, convulsive gestures, while she
talked.

She had grown old in Portugal, and contracted rheumatism in the unusual