'For what other purpose am I here?' he answered, closing the door, and
standing with his back against it. 'With what object have I made my way
to this place, through difficulty and danger, but to preserve you?'

With a joy for which it was impossible to find adequate expression, they
embraced each other, and thanked Heaven for this most timely aid. Their
deliverer stepped forward for a moment to put the light upon the table,
and immediately returning to his former position against the door, bared
his head, and looked on smilingly.

'You have news of my uncle, sir?' said Emma, turning hastily towards
him.

'And of my father and mother?' added Dolly.

'Yes,' he said. 'Good news.'

'They are alive and unhurt?' they both cried at once.

'Yes, and unhurt,' he rejoined.

'And close at hand?'

'I did not say close at hand,' he answered smoothly; 'they are at no
great distance. YOUR friends, sweet one,' he added, addressing Dolly,
'are within a few hours' journey. You will be restored to them, I hope,
to-night.'

'My uncle, sir--' faltered Emma.

'Your uncle, dear Miss Haredale, happily--I say happily, because he has
succeeded where many of our creed have failed, and is safe--has crossed
the sea, and is out of Britain.'

'I thank God for it,' said Emma, faintly.

'You say well. You have reason to be thankful: greater reason than it is
possible for you, who have seen but one night of these cruel outrages,
to imagine.'

'Does he desire,' said Emma, 'that I should follow him?'

'Do you ask if he desires it?' cried the stranger in surprise. 'IF he
desires it! But you do not know the danger of remaining in England,
the difficulty of escape, or the price hundreds would pay to secure the
means, when you make that inquiry. Pardon me. I had forgotten that you
could not, being prisoner here.'

'I gather, sir,' said Emma, after a moment's pause, 'from what you hint
at, but fear to tell me, that I have witnessed but the beginning, and
the least, of the violence to which we are exposed, and that it has not
yet slackened in its fury?'

He shrugged his shoulders, shook his head, lifted up his hands; and with
the same smooth smile, which was not a pleasant one to see, cast his
eyes upon the ground, and remained silent.

'You may venture, sir, to speak plain,' said Emma, 'and to tell me the
worst. We have undergone some preparation for it.'

But here Dolly interposed, and entreated her not to hear the worst, but
the b