largely benefited by his humane establishment.

As we are upon this painful subject, we may as well state here that he
was prosecuted, convicted, and sentenced to two years' imprisonment,
with hard labor.

CHAPTER XL. Lady Gourlay sees her Son.

Having done all that was possible for poor Fenton, the stranger lost no
time in waiting upon Lady Gourlay, that he might, with as much prudence
as the uncertain state of the young man's health would permit, make
known the long wished for communication, that they had at length got
him in their possession. His task was one of great difficulty, for he
apprehended that an excess of joy on the part of that affectionate woman
might be dangerous, when suddenly checked by the melancholy probability
that he had been restored to her only to be almost immediately removed
by death. He resolved, then, to temper his intelligence in such a way as
to cause her own admirable sense and high Christian feeling to exercise
their usual influence over her heart. As he had promised Corbet,
however, to take no future step in connection with these matters without
consulting him, he resolved, before seeing Lady Gourlay, to pay him
a visit. He was induced the more to do this in consequence of the old
man's singular conduct on the discovery of Fenton. From the very first
interview that he ever had with Corbet until that event, he could
not avoid observing that there was a mystery in everything he did and
said--something enigmatical--unfathomable, and that his looks, and the
disagreeable expression which they occasionally assumed, were frequently
so much at variance with his words, that it was an utter impossibility
to draw anything like a certain inference from them. On the discovery
of Fenton, the old man's face went through a variety of contradictory
expressions. Sometimes he seemed elated--triumphant, sometimes depressed
and anxious, and occasionally angry, or excited by a feeling that was
altogether unintelligible. He often turned his eye upon Fenton, as if
he had discovered some precious treasure, then his countenance became
overcast, and he writhed in an agony which no mortal penetration could
determine as anything but the result of remorse. Taking all this into
consideration, the stranger made up his mind to see him before he should
wait upon Lady Gourlay.

Although a day had elapsed, he found the old man still complaining of
illness, which, he said, would have been more serious had he not t