his look; "I have never, to my knowledge,
seen him before."

The accents of the speaker appeared to have suddenly struck some chord
in the sufferer's intelligence, for he struggled for an instant, and
then, raising himself on his elbow, stared fixedly at him. "Not know
me?" cried he, in English; "'t is because sorrow and sickness has
changed me, then."

"Who are you? Tell me your name?" said Glencore, eagerly.

"I'm Billy Traynor, my Lord, the one you remember, the doctor--"

"And my boy!" screamed Glencore, wildly.

The sick man threw up both his arms in the air, and fell backward with
a cry of despair; while Glencore, tottering for an instant, sank with a
low groan, and fell senseless on the ground.

CHAPTER XLVII. A FRAGMENT OF A LETTER

Long before Lord Glencore had begun to rally from an attack which
had revived all the symptoms of his former illness, Billy Traynor had
perfectly recovered, and was assiduously occupied in attending him.
Almost the first tidings which Glencore could comprehend assured him
that the boy was safe, and living at Massa under the protection of the
Chevalier Stubber, and waiting eagerly for Billy to join him. A brief
extract from one of the youth's letters to his warm-hearted follower
will suffice to show how he himself regarded the incident which befell,
and the fortune that lay before him.

It was a long swim, of a dark night too, Master Billy; and whenever the
arm of a tree would jostle me, as it floated past, I felt as though that
"blessed" courier was again upon me, and turned to give fight at once.
If it were not that the river took a sudden bend as it nears the sea, I
must infallibly have been carried out; but I found myself quite suddenly
in slack water, and very soon after it shallowed so much that I could
walk ashore. The thought of what became of my adversary weighed more
heavily on me when I touched land; indeed, while my own chances of
escape were few, I took his fate easily enough. With all its dangers, it
was a glorious time, as, hurrying downward in the torrent, through the
dark night, the thunder growling overhead, the breakers battering away
on the bar, I was the only living thing there to confront that peril!
What an emblem of my own fate in everything! A headlong course, an
unknown ending, darkness--utter and day less darkness--around me, and
not one single soul to say, "Courage!" There is something splendidly
exciting in the notion of having felt thoughts