man, and the sleep of a
working-woman was sacred to him--(he would have awakened a fine lady
without ceremony). Be assured her he had left a note for her in his box,
thanking and blessing her for all her goodness. He said that he hoped
he might yet live to prove by acts, and not by idle words, how deeply he
felt all she had done and suffered for him.

Jael received these excuses in hard silence. "That is enough about
me," said she, coldly. "If you are grateful to me, show it by taking my
advice. Leave vengeance to Him who has said that vengeance is His."

The man's whole manner changed directly, and he said doggedly:

"Well, I will be His instrument."

"He will choose His own."

"I'll lend my humble co-operation."

"Oh, do not argue with him," said Grace, piteously. "When did a man ever
yield to our arguments? Dearest, I can't argue: but I am full of misery,
and full of fears. You see my love; you forgive my folly. Have pity on
me; think of my condition: do not doom me to live in terror by night and
day: have I not enough to endure, my own darling? There, promise me you
will do nothing rash to-night, and that you will come to me the first
thing to-morrow. Why, you have not seen your mother yet; she is at Raby
Hall."

"My dear mother!" said he: "it would be a poor return for all your love
if I couldn't put off looking for that scum till I have taken you in my
arms."

And so Grace got a reprieve.

They parted in deep sorrow, but almost as lovingly as ever, and Little
went at once to Raby Hall, and Grace, exhausted by so many emotions, lay
helpless on a couch in her own room all the rest of the day.

For some time she lay in utter prostration, and only the tears that
trickled at intervals down her pale cheeks showed that she was conscious
of her miserable situation.

Jael begged and coaxed her to take some nourishment: but she shook her
head with disgust at the very idea.

For all that at nine o'clock, her faithful friend almost forced a few
spoonfuls of tea down her throat, feeding her like a child: and, when
she had taken it, she tried to thank her, but choked in the middle, and,
flinging her arm round Jael's neck, burst into a passion of weeping,
and incoherent cries of love, and pity, and despair. "Oh, my darling! so
great! so noble! so brave! so gentle! And I have destroyed us both! he
forgave me as soon as he SAW me! So terrible, so gentle! What will be
the next calamity? Ah, Jael! save him from that r