She caught my hand hysterically, and I paused. I saw that my work was done. I will not set down here what she said when she was calmer. When I left her she was animated by a high resolve, and I knew that she would not falter. 'What time will you be 'ere in the mornin', sir?' she asked, as she stood with me at the street-door in Stoney-alley. 'At twelve o'clock, my dear.' 'Tom'll be ready to go with you then, sir. It'll 'urt 'im to leave me, sir, but he'll do it for my sake. I know 'im, sir!' 'Good-night, my dear; God bless you!' 'And you, sir,' she said, kissing my hand. I was punctual to my appointment on the following day. Blade-o'-Grass heard my step on the stairs, and came into the passage to meet me. 'Tom's inside, sir.' I looked into her face, and saw in the anguish expressed there the marks of the conflict she had passed through. 'He's ready to go with you, sir.' Tom Beadle's face bore marks of trouble also, and he evidently had not made up his mind whether he should receive me as a friend or an enemy. 'I feel as if I was bein' transported,' he said in a dogged manner. 'You will live to thank us, Tom,' I said, as I held out my hand to him. He hesitated a moment or two before he took it, and then he gripped it fiercely. 'Look 'ere!' he exclaimed hoarsely. 'Is it all goin' to turn out as you've told 'er? Take your oath on it! Say, May I drop down dead if it won't all come right!' 'As surely as I believe in a better life than this, so surely do I believe that this is your only chance of bestowing happiness upon the woman who loves you with her whole heart and soul.' 'I wouldn't do it but for 'er!' he said, and turned to Blade-o'-Grass. She crept into his arms, and clasped him to her faithful heart, and kissed him again and again. I went into the passage, and I heard her tell him, in a voice broken by sobs, how she loved him, and would love him, and him only, till death, and after death, and how she would count the minutes while he was away, till the blessed time came when they would be together again. Powerful as was her influence over him, it would not have been perfect if he had not had some good and tender qualities in his nature. I felt that the words that were passing between them in this crisis of their lives were sacred, and I went downstairs to the street-door. I found Mr. Merrywhistle there. 'I have a cab waiting for you,' he said, 'and a box.' 'A box!' 'With some clothes in it for Tom Beadle, my dear sir. It will make a good impression upon him. And here are two sovereigns for him.' 'Give them to him yourself, Mr. Merrywhistle,' I said; 'he will be down presently.' Tom Beadle joined us in a few minutes. 'Mr. Merrywhistle has brought a box of clothes for you, Tom,' I said; 'and he has something else for you also.'