He learned that, in the eyes of the man he had served, he had never passed beyond the position of the outcast--the dependent, whose services are liberally rewarded by the gift of a few hundred pounds.

The fortune--the inheritance--the golden mirage, was no longer existent, save as something that did not concern him.

By the disposition of his master's will, it had passed into the coffers of a religious body--a fantastic, unknown sect to which the old man had belonged!" The announcement fell with strange effect.

Enid, inspired by sudden terror, rose to her feet; Bale-Corphew sat gripping the arm of his chair, his face contorted, his mouth working, while a rustle, an audible murmur of excitement passed over the whole chapel, and the Precursor, who all along had been crouching at the foot of the throne, turned quickly and anxiously towards his master.
But the Prophet reassured him by a gesture.

It seemed that he was exalted by some emotion, lifted above his surroundings by some invisible power.
"Put yourselves in this boy's place!" he cried.