“Saved?” repeated Morrel, not being able to conceive such intense happiness; “by whom?”

“By my grandfather. Oh, Morrel, pray love him for all his goodness to us!”

Morrel swore to love him with all his soul; and at that moment he could safely promise to do so, for he felt as though it were not enough to love him merely as a friend or even as a father, he worshiped him as a god.

“But tell me, Valentine, how has it all been effected? What strange means has he used to compass this blessed end?”

Valentine was on the point of relating all that had passed, but she suddenly remembered that in doing so she must reveal a terrible secret which concerned others as well as her grandfather, and she said:

“At some future time I will tell you all about it.”

“But when will that be?”