himself time to think. "We are all wrong, Catherine," he said;
"and you alone are right. What can I do to help you?"

She took his hand gratefully. "Always kind! Never thinking of
yourself! I will see Miss Westerfield in my own room. Wait here,
in case I want you."

After a much shorter absence than Randal anticipated, Mrs. Linley
returned. "Has it been very distressing?" he asked, seeing the
traces of tears in her eyes.

"There are noble qualities," she answered, "in that poor ill-used
girl. Her one thought, as soon as she began to understand my
motive in speaking to her, was not for herself, but for me. Even
you, a man, must have felt the tears in your eyes, if you had
heard her promise that I should suffer no further anxiety on her
account. 'You shall see no distressing change in me,' she said,
'when we meet to-morrow.' All she asked was to be left in her
room for the rest of the day. I feel sure of her resolution to
control herself; and yet I should like to encourage her if I can.
Her chief sorrow (as it seems to me) must be--not for the mother
who has so shamefully neglected her--but for the poor little
brother, a castaway lost in a strange land. Can we do nothing to
relieve her anxiety?"

"I can write," Randal said, "to a man whom I know in New York; a
lawyer in large practice."

"The very person we want! Write--pray write by today's post."