duty.

"Nell!" cried Harry, springing towards her.

The girl arrested her lover by a gesture, and continued, "Your father
and mother, and you, Harry, must now know all. And you too, Mr. Starr,
must remain ignorant of nothing that concerns the child you have
received, and whom Harry--unfortunately for him, alas!--drew from the
abyss."

"Oh, Nell! what are you saying?" cried Harry.

"Allow her to speak," said James Starr in a decided tone.

"I am the granddaughter of old Silfax," resumed Nell. "I never knew a
mother till the day I came here," added she, looking at Madge.

"Blessed be that day, my daughter!" said the old woman.

"I knew no father till I saw Simon Ford," continued Nell; "nor friend
till the day when Harry's hand touched mine. Alone with my grandfather
I have lived during fifteen years in the remote and most solitary depths
of the mine. I say WITH my grandfather, but I can scarcely use
the expression, for I seldom saw him. When he disappeared from Old
Aberfoyle, he concealed himself in caverns known only to himself. In his
way he was kind to me, dreadful as he was; he fed me with whatever he
could procure from outside the mine; but I can dimly recollect that in
my earliest years I was the nursling of a goat, the death of which was
a bitter grief to me. My grandfather, seeing my distress, brought me
another animal--a dog he said it was. But, unluckily, this dog was
lively, and barked. Grandfather did not like anything cheerful. He had
a horror of noise, and had taught me to be silent; the dog he could
not teach to be quiet, so the poor animal very soon disappeared. My
grandfather's companion was a ferocious bird, Harfang, of which, at
first, I had a perfect horror; but this creature, in spite of my dislike
to it, took such a strong affection for me, that I could not help
returning it. It even obeyed me better than its master, which used to
make me quite uneasy, for my grandfather was jealous. Harfang and I
did not dare to let him see us much together; we both knew it would be
dangerous. But I am talking too much about myself: the great thing is
about you."

"No, my child," said James Starr, "tell us everything that comes to your
mind."

"My grandfather," continued Nell, "always regarded your abode in the
mine with a very evil eye--not that there was any lack of space. His
chosen refuge was far--very far from you. But he could not bear to feel
that you were there. If I asked any questions about