re! M. Arture! Risen from the dead!' he
cried, threw himself into the young man's arms, and burst out into a
vehement sob; but in a second he recovered his manners and fell back,
while Estelle looked up.

'M. Arture,' she repeated. 'Ah! is it you? Then, is my mamma alive and
safe?'

'Alas! no,' replied Arthur; 'but your little brother is safe and well at
Algiers, and this good man, the Marabout, is come to deliver you.'

'My mamma said you would protect us, and I knew you would come, like
Mentor, to save us,' said Estelle, clasping her hands with ineffable joy.
'Oh, Monsieur! I thank you next to the good God and the saints!' and she
began fervently kissing Arthur's hand. He turned to salute the Abbe, but
was shocked to see how much more vacant the poor gentleman's stare had
become, and how little he seemed to comprehend.

'Ah!' said Estelle, with her pretty, tender, motherly air, 'my poor uncle
has never seemed to understand since that dreadful day when they dragged
him and Maitre Hebert out into the wood and were going to kill them. And
he has fever every night. But, oh, M. Arture, did you say my brother was
safe?' she repeated, as if not able to dwell enough upon the glad
tidings.

'And I hope you will soon be with him,' said Arthur. 'But, Mademoiselle,
let me present you to the Grand Marabout, a sort of Moslem Abbe, who has
come all this way to obtain your release.'

He led Estelle forward, when she made a courtesy fit for her
grandmother's _salon_, and in very fluent Cabeleyze dialect gave thanks
for the kindness of coming to release her, and begged him to excuse her
uncle, who was sick, and, as you say here, 'stricken of Allah.'

The little French demoiselle's grace and politeness were by no means lost
on the Marabout, who replied to her graciously; and at the sight of her
reading M. Dessault's letter, which the interpreter presented to her, one
of the suite could not help exclaiming, 'Ah! if women such as this will
be went abroad in our streets, there would be nothing to hope for in
Paradise.'

Estelle did not seem to have suffered in health; indeed, in Arthur's
eyes, she seemed in these six weeks to have grown, and to have more
colour, while her expression had become less childish, deeper, and
higher. Her hair did not look neglected, though her dress--the same dark
blue which she had worn on the voyage--had become very ragged and soiled,
and her shoes were broken, and tied on with strips of rag