ddress by
letter than in person. Lionel's pen moved rapidly--his whole heart and
soul suffused with feeling--; and, rushing over the page, he reminded
Darrell of the day when he had told to the rich man the tale of the
lovely wandering child, and how, out of his sympathy for that child,
Darrell's approving, fostering tenderness to himself had grown. Thus
indirectly to her forlorn condition had he owed the rise in his own
fortunes. He went through the story of William Losely as he had gathered
it from Alban Morley, and touched pathetically on his own father's share
in that dark history. If William Losely really was hurried into crime by
the tempting necessity for a comparatively trifling sum, but for Charles
Haughton would the necessity have arisen? Eloquently then the lover
united grandfather and grandchild in one touching picture--their love
for each other, their dependence on each other. He enlarged on Sophy's
charming, unselfish, simple, noble character; he told how he had again
found her; he dwelt on the refining accomplishments she owed to Lady
Montfort's care. How came she with Lady Montfort? Why had Lady Montfort
cherished, adopted her? Because Lady Montfort told him how much her own
childhood had owed to Darrell; because, should Sophy be, as alleged, the
offspring of his daughter, the heiress of his line, Caroline Montfort
rejoiced to guard her from danger, save her from poverty, and ultimately
thus to fit her to be not only acknowledged with delight, but with
pride. Why had he been enjoined not to divulge to Darrell that he had
again found, and under Lady Montfort's roof, the child whom, while yet
unconscious of her claims, Darrell himself had vainly sought to find,
and benevolently designed to succour? Because Lady Montfort wished to
fulfil her task--complete Sophy's education, interrupted by grief for
her missing grandfather, and obtain indeed, when William Losely again
returned, some proofs (if such existed) to corroborate the assertion
of Sophy's parentage. "And," added Lionel, "Lady Montfort seems to fear
that she has given you some cause of displeasure--what I know not, but
which might have induced you to disapprove of the acquaintance I had
begun with her. Be that as it may, would you could hear the reverence
with which she ever alludes to your worth--the gratitude with which she
attests her mother's and her own early obligations to your intellect
and heart!" Finally, Lionel wove all his threads of recital