"Your uncle told me something of their great trouble yesterday.

It seems wonderful to me that they should have survived to tell the tale." "Then he must have told you of Hayle, their supposed friend" (she spoke with superb scorn), "the man who betrayed them and robbed them of what was given them ?" "It was for that purpose that they called upon me," I answered.

"They were anxious that I should undertake the search for this man." She rested her clasped hands upon the table and looked pleadingly at me.
"And will you do so ?" "I am considering the matter," I said, with the first feeling of reluctance I had experienced in the case.

"I have promised to give them my decision this afternoon." "So they informed me, and that is why I am here," she replied.

"Oh, Mr.
Fairfax, you don't know how I pity them! Surely if they could find this man his heart would be touched, and he would refund them a portion, at least, of what he took from them, and what is legally theirs." "I am afraid it is very doubtful whether he will," I said, "even in the event of his being found.