He looked up at me sharp; but in general
he held his head down like a beast or hound,

"You won't betray me.  I 'll not trouble
you long. As soon as the storm abates I'll go."

"Friend! " said I, " what have I to betray ?"
and I trembled lest he should keep himself
out of my power and not tell me.  " You come
for shelter, and I give you of my best. Why
do you suspect me?"

"Because," said he in his abject bitterness,
"all the world is against me. I never met
with goodness or kindness; and now I am
hunted like a wild beast. I'll tell you I'm
a convict returned before my time.   I was a
Sawley man," (as if I, of all men, did not
know it! ) "and I went back like a fool to the
old place. They 've hunted me out where T
would fain have lived rightly and quietly, and
they 'll  send me back to that hell upon earth
if they catch me. I did not know it would
be such a night. Only let me rest and get
warm once more, and I'll go away. Good
kind man! have pity upon me."  I smiled all
his doubts away; I promised him a bed on
the floor, and I thought of Jael and Sisera.
My heart leaped up like a war-horse at the
sound of the trumpet, and  said, " Ha, ha, the
Lord hath heard my prayer and supplication;
I shall have vengeance at last!"

He did not dream who I was. He was
changed; so that I, who had learned his
features with all the diligence of hatred, did
not at first recognise him; and he thought
not of me, only of his own woe and affright.
He looked into the fire with the dreamy gaze
of one whose strength of character, if he had
any, is beaten out of him, and cannot return
at any emergency whatsoever. He sighed
and pitied himself, yet could not decide on
what to do. I went softly about my business,
which was to make him up a bed on the
floor; and, when he was lulled to sleep and
security, to make the best of my way to
Padiham, and summon the constable, into
whose hands I would give him up to be
taken back to his " hell upon earth."  I
went into Nelly's room. She was awake,
and anxious. I saw she had been listening to
the voices.
" Who is there?" said she. " John, tell me
—it sounded like a voice I knew. For God's
sake, speak."

I smiled a quiet smile. " It is a poor man
who has lost his way. Go to sleep, my dear—
I shall make him up on the floor.  I may not
come for some time. Go to sleep;" and I
kissed her. I thought she was soothed, but
not fully satisfied. However, I hastened
away before there was any further time for
questioning. I made up the bed; and
Richard Jackson, tired out, lay down and fell
asleep. My contempt for him almost equalled
my hate. If I were avoiding return to a
place which I thought to be a hell upon earth,
think you I would have taken a quiet sleep
under any man's roof, till somehow or another
I was secure? Now comes this man, and,
with incontinence of tongue, blabs out the
very thing he most should conceal, and then
lies down to a good, quiet, snoring sleep. I
looked again. His face was old, and worn,
and miserable. So should mine enemy look.
And yet it was sad to gaze upon him, poor
hunted creature!

I would gaze no more, lest I grew weak
and pitiful. Thus I took my hat, and softly
opened the door. The wind blew in, but did
not disturb him, he was so utterly weary. I
was out in the open air of night. The storm
was ceasing, and instead of the black sky of
doom, that I had seen when I last looked
forth, the moon was come out, wan and pale,
as if wearied with the fight in the heavens;
and her white light fell ghostly and calm on
many a well-known object. Now and then,
a dark torn cloud was blown across her home
in the sky, but they grew fewer and fewer,
and at last she shone out steady and clear.
I could see Padiham down before me. I heard
the noise of the water-courses down the hillside.
My mind was full of one thought, and
strained upon that one thought, and yet my
senses were most acute and observant. When
I came to the brook, it was swollen to a rapid
tossing river; and the little bridge, with its
hand-rail, was utterly swept away. It was
Iike the bridge at Sawley, where I had first
seen Nelly; and I remembered that day even
then, in the midst of my vexation at having
to go round. I turned away from the brook,
and there stood a little figure facing me. No
spirit from the dead could have affrighted me
as it did; for I saw it was Grace, whom I
had left in bed by her mother's side.

She came to me, and took my hand. Her
bare feet glittered white in the moonshine;
and sprinkled the light upwards, as they
plashed through the pool.

"Father," said she, " Mother bade me say
this." Then pausing to gather breath and
memory, she repeated these words, like a
lesson of which she feared to forget a
syllable.
" Mother says ' There is a God in Heaven;
and in His house are many mansions. If you
hope to meet her there, you will come back
and speak to her; if you are to be separate
for ever and ever, you will go on;
and may God have mercy on her, and
on you! ' Father, I have said it right—every word."

I was silent. At last I said—
" What made Mother say this? How
came she to send you out?"
" I was asleep, Father, and I heard her cry.
I wakened up, and I think you had but just
left the house, and that she was calling for
you. Then she prayed, with the tears rolling
down her cheeks, and kept saying—' Oh, that
I could walk!—Oh, that for one hour I could
run and walk! '  So I said, ' Mother, I can
run and walk. Where must I go?' And
she clutched at my arm; and bade God bless