ient needful repose. I believe I have answered you, Miss Merlin,"
replied the judge, smiling and coolly replacing his pipe in his mouth.

"Papa, what a disagreeable wet blanket you are, to be sure!"

"It is my nature to be so, my dear; and I am just what you need to
dampen the fire of your temperament."

"Are those the orders of the doctor?"

"What, wet blankets for you?"

"No; but that everybody must be excluded from Ishmael's room?"

"Yes; his most peremptory orders, including even me for the present."

"Then I suppose they must be submitted to?"

"For the present, certainly."

Claudia shrugged her shoulders with an impatient gesture, and then said:

"You sent for me, papa. Was it for anything particular?"

"Yes; to question you. Have you been long acquainted with this Ishmael
Gray?"

"Ishmael Worth, papa! Yes, I have known him well ever since you placed
me with my Aunt Middleton," replied Claudia, throwing herself into a
chair.

The judge was slowly walking up and down the library, and he continued
his walk as he conversed with his daughter.

"Who is this Ishmael Worth, then?"

"You know, papa; the nephew of Reuben Gray, or rather of his wife; but
it is the same thing."

"I know he is the nephew of Reuben Gray; but that explains nothing! Gray
is a rude, ignorant, though well-meaning boor; but this lad is a
refined, graceful, and cultivated young man."

Claudia made no comment upon this.

"Now, if you have known him so many years, you ought to be able to
explain this inconsistency. One does not expect to find nightingales in
crows' nests," said the judge.

Still Miss Merlin was silent.

"Why don't you speak, my dear?"

Claudia blushed over her face, neck, and bosom as she answered:

"Papa, what shall I say? You force me to remember things I would like to
forget. Socially, Ishmael Worth was born the lowest of all the low.
Naturally, he was endowed with the highest moral and intellectual gifts.
He is in a great measure self-educated. In worldly position he is
beneath our feet: in wisdom and goodness he is far, far above our
heads. He is one of nature's princes, but one of society's outcasts."

"But how has the youth contrived to procure the means of such education
as he has?" inquired the judge, seating himself opposite his daughter.

"Papa, I will tell you all I know about him," replied Claudia. And she
commenced and related the history of Ishmael's struggles, trials, and
triumphs, from th