“Shall I tell my uncle you are here?” asked she, still in the same subdued voice.

“No; I can say to you all I had to say to him. You will be my messenger?”

“Yes, Robert.”

“Then you may just inform him that I have got a clue to the identity of one, at least, of the men who broke my frames; that he belongs to the same gang who attacked Sykes and Pearson’s dressing shop, and that I hope to have him in custody tomorrow. You can remember that?”

“Oh yes!” These two monosyllables were uttered in a sadder tone than ever; and as she said them she shook her head slightly and sighed. “Will you prosecute him?”

“Doubtless.”

“No, Robert.”

“And why no, Caroline?”

“Because it will set all the neighbourhood against you more than ever.”

“That is no reason why I should not do my duty, and defend my property. This fellow is a great scoundrel, and ought to be incapacitated from perpetrating further mischief.”

“But his accomplices will take revenge on you. You do not know how the people of this country bear malice. It is the boast of some of them that they can keep a stone in their pocket seven years, turn it at the end of that time, keep it seven years longer, and hurl it and hit their mark ‘at last.’”

Moore laughed.

“A most pithy vaunt,” said he—“one that redounds vastly to the credit of your dear Yorkshire friends. But don’t fear for me, Lina. I am on my guard against these lamb-like compatriots of yours. Don’t make yourself uneasy about me.”

“How can I help it? You are my cousin. If anything happened” She stopped.

“Nothing will happen, Lina. To speak in your own language, there is a Providence above all – is there not?”

“Yes, dear Robert. May He guard you!”

“And if prayers have efficacy, yours will benefit me. You pray for me sometimes?”

“Not sometimes, Robert. You, and Louis, and Hortense are always remembered.”

“So I have often imagined. It has occurred to me when, weary and vexed, I have myself gone to bed like a heathen, that another had asked forgiveness for my day, and safety for my night. I don’t suppose such vicarial piety will avail much, but the petitions come out of a sincere breast, from innocent lips. They should be acceptable as Abel’s offering; and doubtless would be, if the object deserved them.”

“Annihilate that doubt. It is groundless.”

“When a man has been brought up only to make money, and lives to make it, and for nothing else, and scarcely breathes any other air than that of mills and markets, it seems odd to utter his name in a prayer, or to mix his idea with anything divine; and very strange it seems that a good, pure heart should take him in and harbour him, as if he had any claim to that sort of nest. If I could guide that benignant heart, I believe I should counsel it to exclude one who does not profess to have any higher aim in life than that of patching up his broken fortune, and wiping clean from his bourgeois scutcheon the foul stain of bankruptcy.”

The hint, though conveyed thus tenderly and modestly (as Caroline thought), was felt keenly and comprehended clearly.

“Indeed, I only think – or I will only think – of you as my cousin,” was the quick answer. “I am beginning to understand things better than I did, Robert, when you first came to England – better than I did a week, a day ago. I know it is your duty to try to get on, and that it won’t do for you to be romantic; but in future you must not misunderstand me if I seem friendly. You misunderstood me this morning, did you not?”

“What made you think so?”

“Your look – your manner.”

“But look at me now”