y had sent for me, and on the
following day I thought he had shaped well. I had liked him also during
our interview in prison, and wanted to see more of him, so that I might
make up my mind about him. I had lived long enough to know that some men
who do great things in the end are not very wise when they are young;
knowing that he would leave prison on the 30th, I had expected him, and,
as I had a spare bedroom, pressed him to stay with me, till he could make
up his mind what he would do.

Being so much older than he was, I anticipated no trouble in getting my
own way, but he would not hear of it. The utmost he would assent to was
that he should be my guest till he could find a room for himself, which
he would set about doing at once.

He was still much agitated, but grew better as he ate a breakfast, not of
prison fare and in a comfortable room. It pleased me to see the delight
he took in all about him; the fireplace with a fire in it; the easy
chairs, the _Times_, my cat, the red geraniums in the window, to say
nothing of coffee, bread and butter, sausages, marmalade, etc. Everything
was pregnant with the most exquisite pleasure to him. The plane trees
were full of leaf still; he kept rising from the breakfast table to
admire them; never till now, he said, had he known what the enjoyment of
these things really was. He ate, looked, laughed and cried by turns,
with an emotion which I can neither forget nor describe.

He told me how his father and mother had lain in wait for him, as he was
about to leave prison. I was furious, and applauded him heartily for
what he had done. He was very grateful to me for this. Other people, he
said, would tell him he ought to think of his father and mother rather
than of himself, and it was such a comfort to find someone who saw things
as he saw them himself. Even if I had differed from him I should not
have said so, but I was of his opinion, and was almost as much obliged to
him for seeing things as I saw them, as he to me for doing the same kind
office by himself. Cordially as I disliked Theobald and Christina, I was
in such a hopeless minority in the opinion I had formed concerning them
that it was pleasant to find someone who agreed with me.

Then there came an awful moment for both of us.

A knock, as of a visitor and not a postman, was heard at my door.

"Goodness gracious," I exclaimed, "why didn't we sport the oak? Perhaps
it is your father. But surely he woul