s in one of the Epistles, and I will look
for the other."

"It matters not. She intended them for a message to me who lay in utter
darkness and imbecility well befitting her destroyer."

"Nay, they have come to you at last," said Aurelia gently. "You really
never knew of them before?"

"No, I durst not ask, nor did any one dare to speak to me. My brother,
who alone would have done so, died, I scarcely know when; but ere the
very consciousness of my own wretched existence had come back to me.
Once again repeat the words, gentle messenger of mercy."

She obeyed, but this time he mournfully murmured, "Hope! What hope for
their destroyer?"

"They are God's words, as well as hers," the girl answered, with
diffident earnestness, but in reply she only heard tightened breaths,
which made her say, "You cannot bear more, sir. Let me call Jumbo, and
bid you good night."

Jumbo came at the mention of his name. Somehow he was so unlike other
human beings, and so wholly devoted to his master, that it never seemed
to be a greater shock to find that he had been present than if he had
been a faithful dog.

A few days later he told Aurelia that Mas'r was not well enough to see
her. He had set forth as soon as the moon had set, and walked with his
trusty servant to Sedhurst, where he had traced with his finger the
whole inscription, lingering so long that the sun was above the horizon
before he could get home; and he was still lying on the bed where he
had thrown himself on first coming in, having neither spoken nor eaten
since. Jumbo could not but grumble out that Mas'r was better left to
himself.

Yet when Aurelia on the third evening was recalled, there was a ring of
refreshment in the voice. It was still melancholy, but the dejection
was lessened, and though it was only of Achilles and Patroclus that
they talked, she was convinced that the pressure of the heavy burthen of
grief and remorse was in some degree lightened.

CHAPTER XII. THE SHAFTS OF PHOEBE.

Her golden bow she bends,
Her deadly arrows sending forth.
_Greek Hymn_ (KEIGHTLEY).

On coming in from a walk, Aurelia was surprised by the tidings that
Mistress Phoebe Treforth had come to call on her, and had left a
billet. The said billet was secured with floss silk sealed down in the
antiquated fashion, and was written on full-sized quarto paper. These
were the contents:--

"Madam,

"My Sister and M