t stir. The misery which he had seen in Dirk's
wretched hut haunted him.

Hagar poured out the boy's cup of tea, waited a little space, then
returned it to its steaming pot again.

"Come, yer supper's cold 'nough, now, honey," said she, coming up to
Noll's seat. "What ye waitin' fur? Oh, chile, ye grows more'n' more
like yer poor father. T'inkin' ob de mis'ry ober dar; ain't ye?"

"_Such_ misery, too!" said Noll.

"Well, dar's mis'ry eberywhere!" said Hagar; "can't go nowhere but
what ye'll find it. Yer Uncle Dick has had mis'ry 'nough in his day,
but 'tain't done him no good 'tall. Jes' froze his heart up harder'n a
stone."

"It isn't all stone," said Noll.

"Don' ye t'ink so? Well, 'pears like ye's sent here by de Lord, jes'
to break dat heart ob his all to pieces!" said Hagar, earnestly.

"Sent here to break Uncle Richard's heart?" laughed Noll. "Well, I
wonder if he thinks I came here for that purpose?"

"Don' know," said the old housekeeper, with a shake of her head; "but
dat's what I t'ink de Lord sent ye here fur. Dat heart ob his is all
frizzed up. 'Spects 'twon't be so allus, chile,--de Lord helpin'."

Noll ate his supper, bade Hagar good-night, admonishing her to "be sure
and have the medicines ready the first thing!" and groped his way to
the library, where his uncle was sitting at his organ.

Trafford stopped playing the instant the door opened, and as Noll drew
near, put his arm about him, saying,--

"My boy!--_mine!_--doubly my own since I snatched you from death! Oh,
Noll! if I had lost you!"

The boy sighed. "Dirk has got to lose _his_ child," he said, "and oh,
Uncle Richard, I should be a great deal happier if I might only try to
save it!"

CHAPTER XI.

DIRK'S TREASURE.

At the first gray glimmer of the wintry dawn, Noll was awake. He felt
stiff and lame after his adventure of the previous evening, and not at
all inclined to stir. But a sudden recollection of Dirk and his child,
and the aid which he had promised them, came to him almost as soon as
he was conscious of the day's dawning, and he got up and limped to
the window to see whether there was any prospect of Hagar's journey to
Culm being realized. The sky was as gray and sombre as yesterday's had
been. All the sea was in a great turmoil, and rolled in a flood of
foam upon the shore as far as he could see. Not a sail in sight upon
the lonely waste, not a sign of human life anywhere. Now and then