"I brought the case with me, under my cloak, thinking that it might contain gold which you could use."
"Yes; you will find gold there after I am gone. Keep it with the rest."
"Dear friend, you will break my heart with this cruel kindness."
"What! I? No! no! I wish to make you very happy."
"Lady, in my grief I forgot every thing. Here is a package which came over from England in a ship which has just arrived."
Barbara started, and a sudden color came to her face. The excitement was but momentary. She received the package from Norman's hand without looking at it.
"Like all things else it comes too late," she said, quietly; "still I thank you."
That moment a turnkey opened her dungeon door, and peered in with a wistful, inquiring look; over his shoulders appeared a thin face, sharp, and grayish pale, whose black eyes wandered through the dungeon with a sort of timid eagerness, as if he searched, and yet shrunk from some object.
Barbara Stafford saw the face, and stood up with a mournful smile on her lip; thus she remained, waiting, till Samuel Parris came in, and paused before her, like the ghost of some pale friar that had wandered from its substance.
"Samuel Parris, my kind host, my stern accuser," said Barbara Stafford. "Alas! old man, you seem more dreary than I; no wonder: my troubles will be over to-morrow; but yours—oh! God forgive you, Samuel Parris! May the God of heaven help you to forgive yourself!"