tter, but
with what disposition of heart? That, alas! I may not know. Nor can
I give aught of service in either counsel or means; I must trust to
your love and good-will for everything. I can only say that the
girl is known to all in Doom as Mad Scarlett's daughter. She has
her father's tawny hair and red-brown eyes, and her name, as I have
already told you, is Esmay.

"'To-morrow night I shall make my opportunity to reach the river
edge unobserved. I shall then commit to the current the bottle
containing this message, a precious freight, for it is my darling's
life and happiness.

"'To you, my brother, the gift and the grace of God, according as
you deal with me and mine.
ELENA.

* * * * *

"'Watch him whom they call Quinton Edge.'"

"The date is a year ago, lacking a month," added Constans, as he handed
the roll to his uncle.

Messer Hugolin tied up the document with a piece of tape, labelled it
with the date of receipt, and laid it away in a pigeon-hole.

"Well?" said Constans, interrogatively.

"Do you want me to put myself within reach of the Gray Wolf's paws?"
retorted Messer Hugolin, shrewdly. "I was flayed badly enough the last
time the _Black Swan_ cast anchor before Croye, and I am not paying
between rent-days."

"The year is almost up," urged Constans, insistently.

"I have lived my life," returned the old man, with sombre fixity of
resolve, "and these things do not interest me. I have other use for my
hands than to keep them stretched out idly in the dark."

"But that letter--a mother pleading for her child. You have but to give
the word--there are men who will go, and gladly."

"I doubt it not, for there are always drones a-plenty around a beehive.
But why should I spend my good, red gold to make a beggar's holiday?"

Constans felt his cheeks burn. "Their blood is redder than your gold,"
he said. "And if they are not afraid to risk----"

"What has cost them nothing and for whose loss there is quick repair in
a few square inches of sticking-plaster. Tush! boy, you speak of these
things as one who dreams visions at noonday. While I--what I know, I
know. There is but one thing precious in the world, and that is what a
man holds safely in his strong-box. Why should I spend myself for
naught?"

"The girl is your niece--your flesh and blood."

"No more so th