I am a deuced
good-humoured old boy, let me tell you, when not ruffled; and I will do
the best I can to put you right. I will lend you a trifle of ready
money, give you the address of an excellent lawyer in London, and find a
way to set you on shore unsuspected."

He was in every particular as good as his word. Four days later, the
_Nemorosa_ sounded her way, under the cloak of a dark night, into a
certain haven of the coast of England; and a boat, rowing with muffled
oars, set me ashore upon the beach within a stone's throw of a railway
station. Thither, guided by Sir George's directions, I groped a devious
way; and, finding a bench upon the platform, sat me down, wrapped in a
man's fur greatcoat, to await the coming of the day. It was still dark
when a light was struck behind one of the windows of the building; nor
had the east begun to kindle to the warmer colours of the dawn, before a
porter, carrying a lantern, issued from the door and found himself face
to face with the unfortunate Teresa. He looked all about him; in the
grey twilight of the dawn, the haven was seen to lie deserted, and the
yacht had long since disappeared.

"Who are you?" he cried.

"I am a traveller," said I.

"And where do you come from?" he asked.

"I'm going, by the first train, to London," I replied.

In such manner, like a ghost or a new creation, was Teresa with her bag
of jewels landed on the shores of England; in this silent fashion,
without history or name, she took her place among the millions of a new
country.

Since then, I have lived by the expedients of my lawyer, lying concealed
in quiet lodgings, dogged by the spies of Cuba, and not knowing at what
hour my liberty and honour may be lost.

THE BROWN BOX (_concluded_)

The effect of this tale on the mind of Harry Desborough was instant and
convincing. The Fair Cuban had been already the loveliest, she now
became, in his eyes, the most romantic, the most innocent and the most
unhappy of her sex. He was bereft of words to utter what he felt: what
pity, what admiration, what youthful envy of a career so vivid and
adventurous. "Oh, madam!" he began; and finding no language adequate to
that apostrophe, caught up her hand and wrung it in his own. "Count upon
me," he added, with bewildered fervour; and, getting somehow or other
out of the apartment and from the circle of that radiant sorceress, he
found himself in the strange out-of-doors, beholding dull houses,
wonder