"Will you wait here a quarter of an hour?" asked Henry.

"For what?"

"I want to pay you off and begin again. I am going for some money."

"Yes, I'll wait," replied the young man.

"Very well. I'll be back in a few minutes."

It was for this work and for this purpose that Henry Darlington came to
his mother just at the moment the absence of Miriam and her purpose in
leaving had been discovered. The effect of the painful news on the
young man has already been described. From the time he became aware of
the fact that Miriam had gone away with Burton for the purpose of
becoming his wife, until ten o'clock at night, he was in an agony of
suspense. As the uncle could not be found at the office where he wrote,
nor at the house where he boarded, it was concluded that he had reached
the boat before its departure, and gone on with the fugitives in the
train to New York. Nothing was therefore left for the distressed family
but to await his return.

How anxiously passed the hours! At tea time Edith only made her
appearance. Henry and his mother remained in the chamber of the latter.
As for the young man, he was cast down and distressed beyond measure,
vexing his spirit with self-accusations that were but too well founded.

"Oh, mother!" said he, while they were alone, starting up from where he
had been sitting with his face buried in his hands--"oh, mother! what
evils have come through this opening of our house, for strangers to
enter! Miriam, our sweet, gentle, pure-hearted Miriam, has been lured
away by one of the worst of men; and!"--the young man checked himself a
moment or two, and then continued--"and I have been drawn away from
right paths into those that lead to sure destruction. Mother, I have
been in great danger. Until Barling and Mason came into our family, I
was guiltless of any act that could awaken a blush of shame upon my
cheek. Oh, that I had never met them!"

"Henry! Henry! what do you mean by this?" exclaimed Mrs. Darlington, in
a voice full of anguish.

"I have been standing on the brink of a precipice," replied the young
man with more calmness. "But a hand has suddenly drawn me away, and I
am trembling at the danger I have escaped. Oh, mother, will you not
give up this mode of life? We have none of us been happy. I have never
felt as if I had a home since it began. And you--what a slave have you
been! and how unhappy! Can nothing be done except keeping boarders? Oh,
what would I not give for the dea