go, and try to forget.
The captain is still alive, and as yet you are spared the sin. No,
don't look there; I'll care for him. Come, Robert, for Lucy's sake."

Thank Heaven for the immortality of love! for when all other means of
salvation failed, a spark of this vital fire softened the man's iron
will until a woman's hand could bend it. He let me take from him the
key, let me draw him gently away and lead him to the solitude which now
was the most healing balm I could bestow. Once in his little room, he
fell down on his bed and lay there as if spent with the sharpest
conflict of his life. I slipped the bolt across his door, and unlocked
my own, flung up the window, steadied myself with a breath of air, then
rushed to Doctor Franck. He came; and till dawn we worked together,
saving one brother's life, and taking earnest thought how best to
secure the other's liberty. When the sun came up as blithely as if it
shone only upon happy homes, the Doctor went to Robert. For an hour I
heard the murmur of their voices; once I caught the sound of heavy
sobs, and for a time a reverent hush, as if in the silence that good
man were ministering to soul as well as sense. When he departed he
took Robert with him, pausing to tell me he should get him off as soon
as possible, but not before we met again.

Nothing more was seen of them all day; another surgeon came to see the
captain, and another attendant came to fill the empty place. I tried
to rest, but could not, with the thought of poor Lucy tugging at my
heart, and was soon back at my post again, anxiously hoping that my
contraband had not been too hastily spirited away. Just as night fell
there came a tap, and opening, I saw Robert literally "clothed and in
his right mind." The Doctor had replaced the ragged suit with tidy
garments, and no trace of that tempestuous night remained but deeper
lines upon the forehead, and the docile look of a repentant child. He
did not cross the threshold, did not offer me his hand,--only took off
his cap, saying, with a traitorous falter in his voice,--

"God bless you, Ma'am! I'm goin'."

I put out both my hands, and held his fast.

"Good-bye, Robert! Keep up good heart, and when I come home to
Massachusetts we'll meet in a happier place than this. Are you quite
ready, quite comfortable for your journey?

"Yes, Ma'am, Yes; the Doctor's fixed everything; I'm goin' with a
friend of his; my papers are all right, an' I'm as happy as I