She parted the hair from her eyes, and gazed at me as if she were in a dream.
'Will you do this? Will you save your husband from the net of crime and shame in which he is entangled?'
'Will I do it?' she cried, in a tone of wonder. 'Can you arks me? Show me the way!'
I did. I told her the end I had been working for. I read Richard's letter to her, and dilated upon the prospect it held out.
'There is no chance for Tom here,' I said; 'there is in that new land, and with such friends as he will have about him. I believe it is in your power to persuade him to go. He loves you, and would do much for you. The separation will not be a very long one. Five years will soon pass, and then you will both be young. While he is working out the commencement of a good and better life there, you can stop with Mrs. Silver; she bids me offer you a home. Will you make the sacrifice?--a sacrifice that in all your after-life you will bless us for persuading you to make. My dear sister,'--she bowed her head to her breast convulsively as I thus addressed her--'it will be your salvation, and his. All our hearts are set upon it for your good and his. I know how you will suffer in parting from him, but the love's sacrifice that you will make for him will be a truer test of love than all you have hitherto done.'
She was silent for a long, long time before she spoke.
'When will he 'ave to go, sir?'
'A ship sails from Liverpool the day after to-morrow.'
'So soon!' she cried, clasping her hands.
'It is best so. Every hour that he passes here after he is out of prison is an hour of peril to you both. I will myself accompany him to Liverpool to-morrow. Let him commence his baptism at once, and in the new land work out his regeneration. He will thank you for it by and bye. Shall I tell you what I see in a few years from this present moment, my dear?'