Page:The Father Confessor, Stories of Danger and Death.djvu/153

Rh "Do not let him have me!" she cried in terror. "Hold me tight!"

The man at her movement awoke from his thoughts. "Poor little one! he is not here," he said; "he will not get you. I will keep you from him." He smiled bitterly. "I will keep you from him."

He bore the child up to her room, and stayed beside her till she slept.

After this he became the one thought of her days, and his love and dependence upon her, as she imagined it, became alike her joy and alarm. Nearly a year passed since his return, and she became old for her short years. Already she had mapped out her future interwoven with his. She had studied with one intent. Her reading was beyond her, but she persevered. She frequented his room in his absence to read some of the books he read, which she did without in the least understanding them. She saw him grow more grey and weary, and thought he leant more heavily upon her.

So the years began to roll past. The child became a girl, and the girl a maiden. All these different periods were devoted to the same