"
"Nay, they have come to you at last," said Aurelia gently. "You
really never knew of them before?"
"No, I durst not ask, nor did any one dare to speak to me. My brother,
who alone would have done so, died, I scarcely know when; but ere the
very consciousness of my own wretched existence had come back to me.
Once again repeat the words, gentle messenger of mercy."
She obeyed, but this time he mournfully murmured, "Hope! What hope
for their destroyer?"
"They are God's words, as well as hers," the girl answered, with
diffident earnestness, but in reply she only heard tightened breaths,
which made her say, "You cannot bear more, sir. Let me call Jumbo,
and bid you good night."
Jumbo came at the mention of his name. Somehow he was so unlike other
human beings, and so wholly devoted to his master, that it never seemed
to be a greater shock to find that he had been present than if he had
been a faithful dog.
A few days later he told Aurelia that Mas'r was not well enough to
see her. He had set forth as soon as the moon had set, and walked
with his trusty servant to Sedhurst, where he had traced with his
finger the whole inscription, lingering so long that the sun was
above the horizon before he could get home; and he was still lying
on the bed where he had thrown himself on first coming in, having
neither spoken nor eaten since.
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