"Oh, sir," I said, "why did you never write to her when you were in
foreign parts?"

"I wrote often," he answered; "but each of my letters contained a
remittance of money. Did Mary tell you she had a stepmother? If she did,
you may guess why none of my letters were allowed to reach her. I now
know that this woman robbed my sister. Has she lied in telling me that
she was never informed of Mary's place of abode?"

I remembered that Mary had never communicated with her stepmother after
the separation, and could therefore assure him that the woman had spoken
the truth.

He paused for a moment after that, and sighed. Then he took out a
pocket-book, and said:

"I have already arranged for the payment of any legal expenses that may
have been incurred by the trial, but I have still to reimburse you for
the funeral charges which you so generously defrayed. Excuse my speaking
bluntly on this subject; I am accustomed to look on all matters where
money is concerned purely as matters of business."

I saw that he was taking several bank-notes out of the pocket-book, and
stopped him.

"I will gratefully receive back the little money I actually paid, sir,
because I am not well off, and it would be an ungracious act of pride in
me to refuse it from you," I said; "but I see you handling bank-notes,
any one of which is far beyond the amount you have to repay me. Pray put
them back, sir. What I did for your poor lost sister I did from my love
and fondness for her. You have thanked me for that, and your thanks are
all I can receive."

He had hitherto concealed his feelings, but I saw them now begin to get
the better of him. His eyes softened, and he took my hand and squeezed
it hard.

"I beg your pardon," he said; "I beg your pardon, with all my heart."

There was silence between us, for I was crying, and I believe, at heart,
he was crying too. At last he dropped my hand, and seemed to change
back, by an effort, to his former calmness.

"Is there no one belonging to you to whom I can be of service?" he
asked. "I see among the witnesses on the trial the name of a young
man who appears to have assisted you in the inquiries which led to the
prisoner's conviction. Is he a relation?"

"No, sir--at least, not now--but I hope--"

"What?"

"I hope that he may, one day, be the nearest and dearest relation to me
that a woman can have." I said those words boldly, because I was afraid
of his otherwise taking some wrong view of the conn