to forgive injuries."

Phoebe burst out laughing. "Hee-hee-hee! Thank you, sir, for a sermon
as well as a sovereign. You have been most kind, indeed!" She changed
suddenly from irony to anger. "I never was called a heathen before!
Considering what I have done for you, I think you might at least have
been civil. Good afternoon, sir." She lifted her saucy little snub-nose,
and walked with dignity out of the room.

For the moment, Amelius was amused. As he heard the house-door closed,
he turned laughing to the window, for a last look at Phoebe in the
character of an injured Christian. In an instant the smile left his
lips--he drew back from the window with a start.

A man had been waiting for Phoebe, in the street. At the moment when
Amelius looked out, she had just taken his arm. He glanced back at the
house, as they walked away together. Amelius immediately recognised,
in Phoebe's companion (and sweetheart), a vagabond Irishman, nicknamed
Jervy, whose face he had last seen at Tadmor. Employed as one of
the agents of the Community in transacting their business with the
neighbouring town, he had been dismissed for misconduct, and had been
unwisely taken back again, at the intercession of a respectable person
who believed in his promises of amendment. Amelius had suspected this
man of being the spy who officiously informed against Mellicent and
himself, but having discovered no evidence to justify his suspicions, he
had remained silent on the subject. It was now quite plain to him
that Jervy's appearance in London could only be attributed to a
second dismissal from the service of the Community, for some offence
sufficiently serious to oblige him to take refuge in England. A more
disreputable person it was hardly possible for Phoebe to have
become acquainted with. In her present vindictive mood, he would be
emphatically a dangerous companion and counsellor. Amelius felt this so
strongly, that he determined to follow them, on the chance of finding
out where Jervy lived. Unhappily, he had only arrived at this resolution
after a lapse of a minute or two. He ran into the street but it was too
late; not a trace of them was to be discovered. Pursuing his way to Mr.
Farnaby's house, he decided on mentioning what had happened to Regina.
Her aunt had not acted wisely in refusing to let the maid refer to her
for a character. She would do well to set herself right with Phoebe, in
this particular, before it was too late.

CHAPTE