ed for her to speak. But she kept a resolute silence.

"Come, Miss Tabby, tell me all about it," continued Mr. Berners, seating
himself to listen to the story.

"I an't got nothing to tell you any more than I have told you already,"
answered the woman doggedly.

"Why, you never told me anything!" exclaimed Lyon Berners, impatiently.

"Yes, I did too! I told you as how the last time I seen Miss Sybil's
face, or the baby's face, was when they was both a layin' side by side
on the bed just before the water rushed into the broken winder; and how
I myself was picked up not far from where the prison was," said Miss
Tabby, stubbornly.

"Which was all a prevarication, Tabby, though to the letter true. Come.
You can tell me more than that."

"No, sir; I told you that _then_, and I can't tell you no more _now_."

"But I know you can. See! this letter releases you from your oath of
silence."

"No letter can't release me from no oath, sir, which I took upon the
Bible," persisted Miss Tabby.

"Was there ever such fanaticism!" exclaimed Lyon Berners, impatiently.

"I don't know what sort of a schism fanaticism is, sir, but I know I
an't left so far to my own devices as to be let to fall into _any_
schisms, so long as I prays faithfully into the litany every Sunday to
be delivered from _all_ schisms."

"Heaven and earth, woman! That has nothing to do with it. Here is a man
writing to release you from an oath you took to _him_ to keep secrecy on
a certain event, of which it is expedient now for you to speak. He frees
you from your oath, I tell you."

"Which he can't do, sir, begging of his parding and yours. If so be I
_took_ an oath, which I don't acknowledge as I _did_ take," said Miss
Tabby, cautiously, "_he_ can't free me from it no more 'n no one else.
And if so be you could put me on the rack like a heathen and torter me
to death, I would die a marture to the faith rayther than break my
oath," snivelled Miss Tabby.

"Who the demon wants to put you on the rack, you intolerable old idiot?"
exclaimed Lyon Berners, driven past his patience by her obstinacy. "Will
you, or will you not, tell me all the particulars of Sybil's rescue?"

"No, sir, I will not, because I cannot without breaking of my oath,"
persisted Miss Tabby, with a constancy which compelled respect for her
honesty, if it inspired contempt for her judgment.

"Well, I hope also that you will never mention the matter to any one
else," said Mr. Berners, on