ave been employed during your long absence from him, how you have
been treated by your persecutors, and if they have conducted themselves
towards you with all the deference due to your rank. Finally, he is
anxious to see if you have been fortunate enough to escape the bad moral
influence to which you have been exposed, and which is infinitely more
to be dreaded than any physical suffering; he wishes to discover if the
fine abilities with which nature had endowed you have been weakened by
want of culture; and, in short, whether you consider yourself capable of
resuming and retaining in the world the high position to which your rank
entitles you."

"Sir!" exclaimed the young man, quite astounded, "I hope no false
report"--

"As for myself, I first heard you spoken of by my friend Wilmore, the
philanthropist. I believe he found you in some unpleasant position, but
do not know of what nature, for I did not ask, not being inquisitive.
Your misfortunes engaged his sympathies, so you see you must have
been interesting. He told me that he was anxious to restore you to the
position which you had lost, and that he would seek your father until he
found him. He did seek, and has found him, apparently, since he is here
now; and, finally, my friend apprised me of your coming, and gave me a
few other instructions relative to your future fortune. I am quite aware
that my friend Wilmore is peculiar, but he is sincere, and as rich as a
gold-mine, consequently, he may indulge his eccentricities without
any fear of their ruining him, and I have promised to adhere to his
instructions. Now, sir, pray do not be offended at the question I am
about to put to you, as it comes in the way of my duty as your patron.
I would wish to know if the misfortunes which have happened to
you--misfortunes entirely beyond your control, and which in no degree
diminish my regard for you--I would wish to know if they have not, in
some measure, contributed to render you a stranger to the world in which
your fortune and your name entitle you to make a conspicuous figure?"

"Sir," returned the young man, with a reassurance of manner, "make
your mind easy on this score. Those who took me from my father, and
who always intended, sooner or later, to sell me again to my original
proprietor, as they have now done, calculated that, in order to make the
most of their bargain, it would be politic to leave me in possession of
all my personal and hereditary worth, and even