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 possessions, except some clothes, seeds, roots, and tools, which I felt free to take with me to Canada. I was going to leave you."

"To leave me? To leave me?"

Her little fingers fastened on his arm: she spoke and looked affrighted.

"Not now—not now. Examine my face; yes, look at me well: is the despair of parting legible thereon?"

She looked into an illuminated countenance, whose characters were all beaming, though the page itself was dusk: this face, potent in the majesty of its traits, shed down on her hope, fondness, delight.

"Will the repeal do you good; much good—immediate good?" she inquired.

"The repeal of the Orders in Council saves me. Now I shall not turn bankrupt; now I shall not give up business; now I shall not leave England; now I shall be no longer poor; now I can pay my debts; now all the cloth I have in my warehouses will be taken off my hands, and commissions given me for much more: this day lays for my fortunes a broad, firm foundation; on which, for the first time in my life, I can securely build."

Caroline devoured his words: she held his hand in hers; she drew a long breath.

"You are saved? Your heavy difficulties are lifted?"

"They are lifted: I breathe: I can act."

"At last! Oh! Providence is kind. Thank Him, Robert."

"I do thank Providence."