een subjected, that was to be avoided by
circuitous movement, to be hidden by work, but never to be surmounted.
And to-night he was going out in the storm, which he could understand
and fight, as he had often done before, and he was going to drive a
bargain with a man like himself and get the better of him if he could,
as he had done before, and another day would be gone, and that central
injustice which he could not understand would be circumvented, and he
would still be holding his own in the world. And the God of Israel
whom he believed in, and who was a hard but conscientious Providence,
something like himself, would assist him perhaps some day to the
understanding of this same vague injustice which He was, for some
strange reason, permitting. But never more unrelenting and unsparing of
others than when under conviction of Sin himself, and never more harsh
and unforgiving than when fresh from the contemplation of the Divine
Mercy, he still sat there grimly holding his hand to a warmth that never
seemed to get nearer his heart than that, when his daughter re-entered
the room with his carpet-bag.

To rise, put on his coat and overcoat, secure a fur cap on his head by a
woolen comforter, covering his ears and twined round his throat, and to
rigidly offer a square and weather-beaten cheek to his daughter's dusty
kiss, did not, apparently, suggest any lingering or hesitation. The sled
was at the door, which, for a tumultuous moment, opened on the storm and
the white vision of a horse knee-deep in a drift, and then closed behind
him. Zuleika shot the bolt, brushed some flakes of the invading snow
from the mat, and, after frugally raking down the fire on the hearth her
father had just quitted, retired through the long passage to the kitchen
and her domestic supervision.

It was a few hours later, supper had long past; the "hands" had one by
one returned to their quarters under the roof or in the adjacent lofts,
and Zuleika and the two maids had at last abandoned the kitchen for
their bedrooms beyond. Zuleika herself, by the light of a solitary
candle, had entered the office and had dropped meditatively into a
chair, as she slowly raked the warm ashes over the still smouldering
fire. The barking of dogs had momentarily attracted her attention, but
it had suddenly ceased. It was followed, however, by a more startling
incident,--a slight movement outside, and an attempt to raise the
window!

She was not frightened; perhaps