wild eyes unblenched, while, as if the calm words of reason had forced
themselves to his heart, he, too, allowed his hands to fall, and as the
fierce rage seemed to fade out of his countenance, a strange shiver
passed through his frame, and he looked in a pitiful, pleading way from
face to face, as if seeking comfort, before speaking, in a cracked,
hollow voice:

"Too late!--too late! But no, not yet! You," he exclaimed, turning to
Sir Murray, "you will be generous. You will waive this claim. See
here!" he cried excitedly, as with outstretched hands he pleaded to the
husband: "I was cut down, as you know, in hard fight, and I woke to find
myself a prisoner amongst the hill tribes; and ever since, for what has
seemed a life-time, I have been held a slave, a captive--beaten,
starved, ill-used in every conceivable way; but look here!" he cried,
tearing from his breast a little leather purse, and opening it. "See
here!" he cried, taking out a few dry flower-stalks: "her flowers, given
me when, young and ardent, we plighted troth--forget-me-nots; true
blue--and we swore to live one for the other. Man! man! those few
withered blossoms have been life to me when, cut and bruised, I could
have gladly lain down beneath the hot Indian sun and gasped out my last
breath. I believe my captors tried to kill me with ill-usage; but I
said I would not die--I would live to look once more upon her face, even
though it were to breathe my last at her feet. And now--now, after
hardships that would make your blood run cold, I escape, and reach home,
what do I find? Her, worse than dead--worse than dead! But no! it
cannot be so. You, sir--I ask you humbly--I ask you as a supplicant--
forgive my mad words, and tell me that you waive your claim. You will
be generous towards us; the law will do the rest. You, sir," he cried,
turning to the Rector, "plead with me. I am no beggar. I come back to
find myself rich. Help me, for poor Marion's sake! Do not condemn her
to a life that must be only such a captivity as mine! Am I right? You
will both be generous, and this horrid dream of despair is at an end!"

He advanced a step nearer to Sir Murray; but the latter turned from him.

"Speak to him, sir," he said to the Rector. "It will be better that I
should go."

Sir Murray's head was bent as he left the room, not daring to trust
himself to gaze again upon the wild, appealing face turned towards him;
while, as the door closed, Phil