t safety for which we
really contributed nothing ourselves. Is it not so, dearest May? We have
gained the harbor, and never knew that we had crossed a quicksand."

"And, after all, Charles, painful as all this is now, and must be when
remembered hereafter, it is not without its good side. We will all
draw closer to each other, and love more fondly where we can trust
implicitly."

"And you forgive me, May?"

"Certainly not--if you assume forgiveness in that fashion!"

Now, though this true history records that May Leslie arose with a
deep flush upon her cheek, and her massy roll of glossy hair somewhat
dishevelled, there is no mention of what the precise fashion was in
which Charles Heathcote sued out his pardon; nor, indeed, with our own
narrow experiences of such incidents, do we care to hazard a conjecture.

"And now as to my father, May. How much of this letter shall we tell
him?"

"All; every word of it. It will pain him, as it has pained us, or even
more; but, that pain once over, he will come back, without one reserved
thought, to all his old affection for us, and we shall be happy as we
used to be."

CHAPTER XI. AN EAGER GUEST

When Lord Agincoort returned to his hotel, he was astonished to see
waiters passing in and out of his apartment with trays covered with
dishes, decanters of wine, and plates of fruit; but as he caught the
deep tone of O'Shea's voice from within, he quickly understood how that
free-and-easy personage was making himself at home.

"Oh, it is here you are!" said Agincourt, entering; "and Charley and
I have been just speculating whether you might not have been expiating
some of your transgressions in an Austrian jail."

"I am here, as you perceive," said the O'Shea, wiping his lips with his
napkin, "and doing indifferently well, too. By the way they treat me, I
'm given to believe that your credit stands well with the hotel people."

"When did you arrive?"

"An hour ago; just in time to make them roast that hedgehog. They
call it a sucking-pig, but I know it's a hedgehog, though I was
eight-and-forty hours without eating."

"How was that?"

"This way," said he, as he drew out the lining of his pockets, and
showed that they were perfectly empty. "I just left myself enough for
the diligence fare from Bologna, and one roll of bread and a pint of
wine as I started; since that I have tasted nothing but the pleasures
of hope. Don't talk to me, therefore, or talk away, but don'