ade Bob drive slow; and I bathed the boy's
face and hands with some good whisky, and tried to make him swallow
some; but it was no use."

While Reuben spoke, Ishmael gave signs of returning consciousness, and
then suddenly opened his eyes and looked around him.

"Drink this, my boy; drink this, my darling Ishmael," said Hannah,
raising his head with one hand while she held the brandy to his lips
with the other.

Ishmael obediently drank a little and then sank back upon his pillow. He
gazed fixedly at Hannah for a few moments, and then suddenly threw his
arms around her neck, as she stooped over him, and cried out in a voice
piercing shrill with anguish:

"Oh, Aunt Hannah! she is gone; she is gone forever!"

"Who is gone, my boy?" asked Hannah sympathetically.

"Claudia! Claudia!" he wailed, covering his convulsed face with his
hands.

"How, my ban upon Brudenell Hall and all connected with it!" exclaimed
Hannah bitterly, as the hitherto unsuspected fact of Ishmael's fatal
love flashed upon her mind; "my blackest ban upon Brudenell Hall and all
its hateful race! It was built for the ruin of me and mine! I was a
fool, a weak, wicked fool, ever to have allowed Ishmael to enter its
unlucky doors! My curse upon them!"

The boy threw up his thin hand with a gesture of deprecation.

"Don't! don't! don't, Aunt Hannah! Every word you speak is a stab
through my heart." And the sentence closed with a gasp and a sob, and he
covered his face with his hands.

"What can I do for him?" said Hannah, appealing to Reuben.

"Nothing, my dear, but what you have done. Leave him alone to rest
quietly. It is easy to see that he has been very much shaken both in
body and hind; and perfect rest is the only thing as will help him,"
answered Gray.

Ishmael's hands covered his quivering face; but they saw that his bosom
was heaving convulsively. He seemed to be struggling valiantly to regain
composure. Presently, as if ashamed of having betrayed his weakness, he
uncovered his face and said, in a faltering and interrupted voice:

"Dear Aunt Hannah, I am so sorry that I have disturbed you; excuse me;
and let me lie here for half an hour to recover myself. I do not wish to
be self-indulgent; but I am exhausted. I ran all the way from Brudenell
Hall to Baymouth to get--to see--to see--" His voice broke down with
a sob, he covered his face with his hands, and shook as with an ague.

"Never mind, my dear, don't try to explain; lie as lon