The master saw that it was in vain to conceal from him the incarceration of little Helen, an act for which he felt sorry and ashamed; but thinking she might still be asleep, and that he might abstract the book without the young doctor being aware of her presence, he strode on in silence, with a speed almost superhuman. "You forget what tremendous long limbs you have," exclaimed the young doctor, breathless, and laughing, "or you would have more mercy on your less gifted brethren." "Yes--yes--I do forget," cried his excited companion, unconsciously betraying his secret, "as that poor little creature knows, to her cost." "I may as well tell you all about it," he added, answering Arthur's look of surprise and curiosity, seen by the lantern's gleam--"since I couldn't keep it to myself." He then related the punishment he had inflicted on Helen, and how he had left her, forgotten and alone. The benevolent heart of the young doctor was not only pained, but alarmed by the recital. He feared for the effects of this long imprisonment on a child so exquisitely sensitive and timid. "You don't know the child," said he, hastening his pace, till even the master's long strides did not sweep more rapidly over the snowy ground. "You have made a fatal experiment. I should not be surprised if you made her a maniac or an idiot." "Heaven forbid!" cried the conscience-stricken teacher, and his huge hand trembled on the lock of the door. "Go in first," said he to Arthur, giving him the lantern. "She will be less afraid of you than of me." Arthur opened the door, and shading the lantern, so as to soften its glare, he went in with cautious steps. A little black figure, with white hands and white face, was kneeling between the desk and the stove. The hands were clasped so tightly, they looked as if they had grown together, and the face had a still, marble look--but life, intensely burning life was in the large, wild eyes uplifted to his own. "Helen, my child!" said he, setting the lantern on the stove, and stooping till his hair, silvered with the night-frost, touched her cheek. With a faint but thrilling cry, she sprang forward, and threw her arms round his neck; and there she clung, sobbing one moment, and laughing the next, in an ecstasy of joy and gratitude. "I thought you'd come, if you knew it," she cried. This implicit confidence in his protection, touched the young man, and he wrapped his arms more closely round her shivering frame. "How cold you are!" he exclaimed. "Let me fold my cloak about you, and put both your hands in mine, they are like pieces of ice."