might be some truth in
it."

"The rascal! I've done with him from this moment; I have put up with too
much from him for years past."

"I think now that you have given him a great deal of liberty, and that,
with a great deal more he has taken, makes up an amount which you find
it difficult to endure."

"And I won't endure it."

"Let me talk to him, and I dare say I shall be able to convince him that
he goes too far, and when he finds that such is the case he will mend."

"Speak to him, if you like, but I have done with such a mutinous rascal,
I have. You can take him into your service, if you like, till you get
tired of him; and that won't be very long."

"Well, well, we shall see. Jack will apologise to you I have no doubt;
and then I shall intercede for him, and advise you to give him another
trial."

"If you get him into the apology, then there's no doubt about me giving
him another trial. But I know him too well for that; he's as obstinate
as a mule, he is, and you won't get a civil word out of him; but never
mind that, now. I tell you what, Master Charley, it will take a good lot
of roast beef to get up your good looks again."

"It will, indeed, uncle; and I require, now, rest, for I am thoroughly
exhausted. The great privations I have undergone, and the amount of
mental excitement which I have experienced, in consequence of the sudden
and unexpected release from a fearful confinement, have greatly weakened
all my energies. A few hours' sleep will make quite a different being of
me."

"Well, my boy, you know best," returned the admiral; "and I'll take
care, if you sleep till to-morrow, that you sha'n't be disturbed. So now
be off to bed at once."

The young man shook his uncle's hand in a cordial manner, and then
repaired to the apartment which had been provided for him.

Charles Holland did, indeed, stand in need of repose; and for the first
time now for many days he laid down with serenity at his heart, and
slept for many hours. And was there not now a great and a happy change
in Flora Bannerworth! As if by magic, in a few short hours, much of the
bloom of her before-fading beauty returned to her. Her step again
recovered its springy lightness; again she smiled upon her mother, and
suffered herself to talk of a happy future; for the dread even of the
vampyre's visitations had faded into comparative insignificance against
the heart's deep dejection which had come over her at the thought that
Charles