Evangeline shrank still closer to Charles, in evident alarm. The latter instantly said, sharply—
“Explain, sir, who you are, and why you appear here in this abrupt and strange manner.”
The stranger made him no reply, but, clasping his hands, he stretched them towards Evangeline, and said, in tones of suffering and anxiety—
“Where is Helen—tell me only where is Helen? I have heard that she is gone—fled hence in secret. Oh! tell me only whither she has gone, that I may but see her once again! You are young and child-like—your heart cannot be made of adamant. Tell me, in pity tell me, where is Helen!”
A thousand thoughts careered wildly through the brain of Evangeline. Who was this man?—what had he to do with Helen’s flight?—was he the cause?
She turned deathly white and faint. She burst into tears.
The stranger, still with clasped hands, sank upon his knees before her, murmuring with intense excitement. “Is it true that she is gone?”
Evangeline wrung her hands, and could not speak.
“She has fled from home,” said Charles.
“She fled alone?” cried the stranger to him, eagerly. “She did,” replied Charles.