"God bless you, miss, and I am right glad to see you," said old Andrew, with tears of joy standing in his eye.
Ellen thanked him warmly, and the Earl wrung the old servant's hand. They then drove off together, and if after rain the sun looks brighter, if after snow the grass greener, so after her long suspense the Earl's presence at her side seemed sweeter, and after the long darkness of doubt and fear Ellen's smile seemed brighter than it had ever been before.
One of the first questions she asked was after Juana, the noble girl who had sacrificed so much for her sake.
"I have made every inquiry, darling, but she has not been seen. Her disappearance is not the least remarkable part of this extraordinary plot, so darkly, deeply, cleverly laid. I hope we may yet meet her, to try and express our gratitude. Oh, what a wondrous week this has been!"
"Talk not of it—let us forget past misery in present bliss, and not forget to thank Him who protected me when naught else availed. Oh! what I thought my worst trial proved my safety. I had almost put an end to my life. I struck, and he stopped the blade, and I thought all was over. Had he not I should have been now cold and dead. Man's extremity is surely God's opportunity."
"We should indeed be thankful. What should I have done if I had found my Ellen dead?"
"And what should I have been had that fatal pistol shot not been intercepted by faithful Wilton?"
"But let us not talk more of it, but rather of the welcome of our friends at home."
Whilst the Earl and Ellen drove to the Towers, the Captain lifted the bound man, and, carrying him down stairs, tossed him on the ground as if he had been a bundle of hay and not a human being, making him groan again with the pain. But the Captain was aware any tenderness to the man whom everyone was reviling would excite suspicion.
"Lay hands on the villain, and pitch him into the carriage. Wilson, you will guard him to prison—he can't move."