, saw that a bit of carpet had
been laid down, a chair placed, and the fire and lights attended to, in
sign of the Cohens' respect. As Mordecai rose to greet him, Deronda was
struck with the air of solemn expectation in his face, such as would
have seemed perfectly natural if his letter had declared that some
revelation was to be made about the lost sister. Neither of them spoke,
till Deronda, with his usual tenderness of manner, had drawn the vacant
chair from the opposite side of the hearth and had seated himself near
to Mordecai, who then said, in a tone of fervid certainty--

"You are coming to tell me something that my soul longs for."

"It is true I have something very weighty to tell you--something I
trust that you will rejoice in," said Deronda, on his guard against the
probability that Mordecai had been preparing himself for something
quite different from the fact.

"It is all revealed--it is made clear to you," said Mordecai, more
eagerly, leaning forward with clasped hands. "You are even as my
brother that sucked the breasts of my mother--the heritage is
yours--there is no doubt to divide us."

"I have learned nothing new about myself," said Deronda. The
disappointment was inevitable: it was better not to let the feeling be
strained longer in a mistaken hope.

Mordecai sank back in his chair, unable for the moment to care what was
really coming. The whole day his mind had been in a state of tension
toward one fulfillment. The reaction was sickening and he closed his
eyes.

"Except," Deronda went on gently, after a pause,--"except that I had
really some time ago come into another sort of hidden connection with
you, besides what you have spoken of as existing in your own feeling."

The eyes were not opened, but there was a fluttering in the lids.

"I had made the acquaintance of one in whom you are interested."

"One who is closely related to your departed mother," Deronda went on
wishing to make the disclosure gradual; but noticing a shrinking
movement in Mordecai, he added--"whom she and you held dear above all
others."

Mordecai, with a sudden start, laid a spasmodic grasp on Deronda's
wrist; there was a great terror in him. And Deronda divined it. A
tremor was perceptible in his clear tones as he said--

"What was prayed for has come to pass: Mirah has been delivered from
evil."

Mordecai's grasp relaxed a little, but he was panting with a tearless
sob.

Deronda went on: "Your sister is wor