You have thanked me for that, and your thanks are all I can receive." He had hitherto concealed his feelings, but I saw them now begin to get the better of him.

His eyes softened, and he took my hand and squeezed it hard.
"I beg your pardon," he said; "I beg your pardon, with all my heart." There was silence between us, for I was crying, and I believe, at heart, he was crying too.

At last he dropped my hand, and seemed to change back, by an effort, to his former calmness.
"Is there no one belonging to you to whom I can be of service ?" he asked.

"I see among the witnesses on the trial the name of a young man who appears to have assisted you in the inquiries which led to the prisoner's conviction.

Is he a relation ?" "No, sir--at least, not now--but I hope--" "What ?" "I hope that he may, one day, be the nearest and dearest relation to me that a woman can have." I said those words boldly, because I was afraid of his otherwise taking some wrong view of the connection between Robert and me "One day ?" he repeated.