t progressed.

"You tell me, Regnie, though, only of good deeds and faithful services
rendered by the dead. You say that he loved your father, and served him
faithfully as long as he lived."

Regnar took up the word in bitter wrath, strangely mingled with regret.

"As long as he _lived_--yes! But listen only until the end, and you
shall judge for yourself of my justice to the memory of the dead.

"On the breast of the babe lay the talisman, and a facsimile, pierced
and suspended by a cord round the child's neck, lay beneath its
clothing. See, I wear it still, and shall wear it until I meet again
with my mother's people.

"I must hasten to end my story. I was taken to Hopedale, where I
remained ten years, at the end of which time Perry was sent from Europe
to take me to my father, who had taken to his home a daughter born of an
earlier marriage, whose mother, unable to understand the caprices of my
father, had returned, almost broken-hearted, to her father's house, and
died during his voluntary exile in Greenland.

"I spent four years in Europe, studying most of the time at Bonn; and
then my father sent for me, and I lived another year on his estate,
learning all that I could of the various handicrafts and avocations,
especially the best modes of agriculture. At the end of the fifth year,
he called me into the library, and spoke to me as follows:--

"'You are now sixteen years of age, and you know that I have given you
opportunities such as are seldom lavished on young men of your age. I
would like to keep you with me longer, but I have told you of your
mother, and the sufferings of her people. It is my wish that you should
visit them within two years, and I have imparted to you much knowledge
of their mode of life and government. Spend one year at Hopedale, and
learn the lore of the fisherman and the craft of the hunter; and when I
shall send you this ancient weapon, you will find within its hilt all
that I dare not commit to paper, or the lips of my messenger.'

"The week after, I sailed for Hopedale; but before the year of my stay
had elapsed, I learned from a friend's letter of the sudden death of my
father. 'I suppose that your father's friend and your sister have joined
you in America, and that you will be consoled somewhat for your loss by
their affection, and your changed fortunes.'

"Thus ran the letter; but it was not until the arrival of the fall ship
that I learned that my father was indeed no longer