held her close to him, and looked at her in dread of having spoken
too plainly.

She slowly lifted her eyes to him in vacant fear and surprise; she burst
into no expression of delight; no overwhelming emotion made her sink
fainting in his arms. The sacred associations which gather round the
mere name of Mother were associations unknown to her; the man who held
her to him so tenderly, the hero who had pitied and saved her, was
father and mother both to her simple mind. She dropped her head on
his breast; her faltering voice told him that she was crying. "Will my
mother take me away from you?" she asked. "Oh, do promise to bring me
back with you to the cottage!"

For the moment, and the moment only, Amelius was disappointed in her.
The generous sympathies in his nature guided him unerringly to the truer
view. He remembered what her life had been. Inexpressible pity for her
filled his heart. "Oh, my poor Sally, the time is coming when you will
not think as you think now! I will do nothing to distress you. You
mustn't cry--you must be happy, and loving and true to your mother." She
dried her eyes, "I'll do anything you tell me," she said, "as long as
you bring me back with you."

Amelius sighed, and said no more. He took her out with him gravely and
silently, when the cab was announced to be ready. "Double your fare," he
said, when he gave the driver his instructions, "if you get there in a
quarter of an hour." It wanted twenty-five minutes to twelve when the
cab left the cottage.

At that moment, the contrast of feeling between the two could hardly
have been more strongly marked. In proportion as Amelius became more and
more agitated, so Sally recovered the composure and confidence that she
had lost. The first question she put to him related, not to her mother,
but to his strange behaviour when he had knelt down to look at her foot.
He answered, explaining to her briefly and plainly what his conduct
meant. The description of what had passed between her mother and Amelius
interested and yet perplexed her. "How can she be so fond of me, without
knowing anything about me for all those years?" she asked. "Is my mother
a lady? Don't tell her where you found me; she might be ashamed of
me." She paused, and looked at Amelius anxiously. "Are you vexed about
something? May I take hold of your hand?" Amelius gave her his hand; and
Sally was satisfied.

As the cab drew up at the house, the door was opened from within. A
gentle