"Let me carry it," he rejoined, with singular eagerness; "it is
absurd, a wrap like that on such a night." And, while Phillis
hesitated, he drew the shawl from her shoulders and hung it over his
arm, and all the way his disengaged right hand rested on the folds,
touching it softly from time to time, as though the mere feeling of
the texture pleased him.

"How was she to-night?" he asked, coming a little closer to Phillis,
and dropping his voice as he spoke.

"Who?--Mrs. Cheyne? Oh, she was charming! just a little cold and
captious at first, but that is her way. But this evening she was bent
on fascinating me, and she quite succeeded; she looked ill, though,
but very, very beautiful."

"She never goes out. I cannot catch a glimpse of her," he returned,
hurriedly. "Miss Challoner, I am going to startle--shock you, perhaps;
but I have thought about it all until my head is dizzy, and there is
no other way. Please give me your attention a moment," for Phillis,
with a vague sense of uneasiness, had looked around for Jeffreys. "I
must see you alone: I must speak to you where we shall not be
interrupted. To call on your mother will be no good; you and only you
can help me. And you are so strong and merciful--I can read that in
your eyes--that I am sure of your sympathy, if you will only give me a
hearing."

"Mr. Dancy! oh, what can you mean?" exclaimed Phillis. She was
dreadfully frightened at his earnestness, but her voice was dignified,
and she drew herself away with a movement full of pride and _hauteur_.
"You are a stranger to me; you have no right----"

"The good Samaritan was a stranger too. Have you forgotten that?" he
returned, in a voice of grave rebuke. "Oh, you are a girl; you are
thinking of your mother! I have shocked your sense of propriety, my
child; for you seem a child to me, who have lived and suffered so
much. Would you hesitate an instant if some poor famishing wretch were
to ask you for food or water? Well, I am that poor wretch. What I have
to tell you is a matter of life and death to me. Only a woman--only
you--can help me; and you shrink because we have not had a proper
introduction. My dear young lady, you have nothing to fear from me. I
am unfortunate, but a gentleman,--a married man, if that will satisfy
your scruples----"

"But my mother," faltered Phillis, not knowing what to say to this
unfortunate stranger, who terrified and yet attracted her by turns.

Never had she heard a human voice