hole of mine."

"Ah! what good such words do me! You make me love you more and more,
though I seem to rob something from my Jules. But, my kind father, think
what his sufferings are. What may I tell him to-day?"

"My child, do you think I waited for your letter to save you from this
threatened danger? Do you know what will become of those who venture to
touch your happiness, or come between us? Have you never been aware
that a second providence was guarding your life? Twelve men of power and
intellect form a phalanx round your love and your existence,--ready to
do all things to protect you. Think of your father, who has risked death
to meet you in the public promenades, or see you asleep in your little
bed in your mother's home, during the night-time. Could such a father,
to whom your innocent caresses give strength to live when a man of honor
ought to have died to escape his infamy, could _I_, in short, I who
breathe through your lips, and see with your eyes, and feel with your
heart, could I fail to defend with the claws of a lion and the soul of a
father, my only blessing, my life, my daughter? Since the death of that
angel, your mother, I have dreamed but of one thing,--the happiness of
pressing you to my heart in the face of the whole earth, of burying
the convict,--" He paused a moment, and then added: "--of giving you a
father, a father who could press without shame your husband's hand, who
could live without fear in both your hearts, who could say to all the
world, 'This is my daughter,'--in short, to be a happy father."

"Oh, father! father!"

"After infinite difficulty, after searching the whole globe," continued
Ferragus, "my friends have found me the skin of a dead man in which to
take my place once more in social life. A few days hence, I shall be
Monsieur de Funcal, a Portuguese count. Ah! my dear child, there are few
men of my age who would have had the patience to learn Portuguese and
English, which were spoken fluently by that devil of a sailor, who was
drowned at sea."

"But, my dear father--"

"All has been foreseen, and prepared. A few days hence, his Majesty John
VI., King of Portugal will be my accomplice. My child, you must have a
little patience where your father has had so much. But ah! what would
I not do to reward your devotion for the last three years,--coming
religiously to comfort your old father, at the risk of your own peace!"

"Father!" cried Clemence, taking his hands and kissing