So it came about that Lassiter would stay by Mrs.Larkin during the day, when she needed care, and Jane would make up the sleep she lost in night-watches.

Mrs.Larkin at once took kindly to the gentle Lassiter, and, without ever asking who or what he was, praised him to Jane.

"He's a good man and loves children," she said.

How sad to hear this truth spoken of a man whom Jane thought lost beyond all redemption! Yet ever and ever Lassiter towered above her, and behind or through his black, sinister figure shone something luminous that strangely affected Jane.

Good and evil began to seem incomprehensibly blended in her judgment.