"I have promised to help him, and I must keep my word," he rejoined.
"I ought not to attempt to dissuade you, for I love Jemmy dearly, but I love you still better, and I therefore implore you for my sake—if not for your own—not to expose yourself to further danger. I will now tell you frankly that I could not go through such another week as I have just passed."
"But you must now feel that your apprehensions were groundless; and if I should be placed in any fresh danger you must take courage from the past."
"Perhaps you will say that I am grown very timorous, and I can scarcely account for my misgivings—but I will not conceal them. I don't think you are quite safe in this house."
"Why not? Old Markland is devoted to me, I am quite sure, and no one else among the household is aware of my arrival."
"But I am sadly afraid they may discover you."
"You are indeed timorous. Even if I should be discovered, I don't think any of them would be base enough to betray me."
"I have another ground for uneasiness, more serious than this, but I scarcely like to allude to it, because I may be doing an injustice to the person who causes my alarm. I fear you have an enemy in the house."
Atherton looked at her inquiringly, and then said:
"I can only have one enemy—Father Jerome."