“Who is gone, my boy?” asked Hannah sympathetically.

“Claudia!  Claudia!” he wailed, covering his convulsed face with his hands.

“How, my ban upon Brudenell Hall and all connected with it!” exclaimed Hannah bitterly, as the hitherto unsuspected fact of Ishmael’s fatal love flashed upon her mind; “my blackest ban upon Brudenell Hall and all its hateful race!  It was built for the ruin of me and mine!  I was a fool, a weak, wicked fool, ever to have allowed Ishmael to enter its unlucky doors!  My curse upon them!”

The boy threw up his thin hand with a gesture of deprecation.

“Don’t! don’t! don’t, Aunt Hannah!  Every word you speak is a stab through my heart.”  And the sentence closed with a gasp and a sob, and he covered his face with his hands.

“What can I do for him?” said Hannah, appealing to Reuben.

“Nothing, my dear, but what you have done.  Leave him alone to rest quietly.  It is easy to see that he has been very much shaken both in body and hind; and perfect rest is the only thing as will help him,” answered Gray.

Ishmael’s hands covered his quivering face; but they saw that his bosom was heaving convulsively.  He seemed to be struggling valiantly to regain composure.  Presently, as if ashamed of having betrayed his weakness, he uncovered his face and said, in a faltering and interrupted voice: 

“Dear Aunt Hannah, I am so sorry that I have disturbed you; excuse me; and let me lie here for half an hour to recover myself.  I do not wish to be self-indulgent; but I am exhausted.  I ran all the way from Brudenell Hall to Baymouth to get—­to see—­to see—­” His voice broke down with a sob, he covered his face with his hands, and shook as with an ague.

“Never mind, my dear, don’t try to explain; lie as long as you wish, and sleep if you can,” said Hannah.

But Ishmael looked up again, and with recovered calmness, said: 

“I will rest for half an hour, Aunt Hannah, no longer; and then I will get up and cut the wood, or do any work you want done.”

“Very well, my boy,” said Hannah, stooping and kissing him.  Then she arranged the pillow, covered him up carefully, drew the curtains and came away and left him.

“He will be all right in a little while, Hannah, my dear,” said Reuben, as he walked with her to the fireplace.

“Sit down there, Reuben, and tell me about yourself, and where you have been living all this time,” said Hannah, seating herself in her arm-chair and pointing to another.

Reuben slowly took the seat and carefully deposited his hat on the floor by his side.

“I am sorry I spoke so sharply to you about the lad, Reuben; it was a thankless return for all your kindness in taking care of him and bringing him home; but indeed I am not thankless, Reuben; but I have grown to be a cross old woman,” she said.

“Have you, indeed, Hannah, my dear?” exclaimed Reuben, raising his eyebrows in sincere astonishment and some consternation.