"Aunt Leth! oh, dear Aunt Leth!" murmured Phœbe, and fell sobbing into the good woman's arms.
"Phœbe! my poor dear Phœbe! Oh! look here! look here! There is blood upon her!"
"I am well and happy now!" sobbed Phœbe. "Oh! so happy! so happy! Dear aunt, dear uncle, don't let them take me from you again!"
"They never shall! they never shall! Oh, my poor dear! oh, my poor dear!"
Close, close, to the tender womanly heart, close to the faithful breast—closer, closer, closer!
"Phœbe!" screamed Fanny, flying down the stairs. "Oh, Phœbe! Phœbe! Mother, give her to me! give her to me!"
And here was 'Melia Jane, in the most outrageous of costumes, quite scandalous, indeed, running down to the kitchen to light the fire.
"I will tell you all to-morrow," said Tom Barley. "Nobody must know she is here. Good-night."
"Tom!" murmured Phœbe.
"Yes, Miss Phœbe?"