The young man replied in the affirmative, and took up his hat as if to depart, but then looked hesitatingly, first at Morley, and then at Lieberg, and then at Morley again. At length, however, he said, addressing the latter--"But I wanted to speak with you, Sir Morley--can't I have a word with you for a minute?" Morley caught the quick eye of Lieberg glancing from the boy's face to his, and he replied at once: "If what you want to say refers to this business, it must be said to Colonel Lieberg, not to me, for upon him alone does your fate depend--or, at least, it must be said in his presence." "It is not about that at all," answered the youth; "it is something which nobody has anything to do with, but you and I." "Let him speak with you--let him speak with you, Morley," said Lieberg; "I am going to make a call on the other side of the square, and will be back with you again in ten minutes." Thus saying, he left the room, and, the young man, after gazing in Morley's face for a few moments, demanded, abruptly--"Pray, where is my sister, sir?" "Your sister is quite safe," replied Morley, in a calm tone, "and under the protection of those who will take care that no harm happens to her." "That is to say, under yours, I suppose," said William Barham, looking at him with a keen and eager glance; "but I'll tell you what, sir, if such is the case, I think I have a right to ask, that you should settle something upon her, that she may not come to poverty too." Morley grew angry. "You young scoundrel!" he said, "I have a great inclination to take you up, and throw you out of that window into the square. You have a right to ask, indeed! You, who would have sold your sister to a low and vagabond swindler--you, now to talk of having any right to meddle in her affairs!" "You are wrong, sir," said the young man, boldly, and with a more straightforward tone than Morley had seen him yet assume; "you are wrong, sir; I would not have sold my sister. I would not have taken a penny for myself. Now that the truth must come out, I will tell you how it was--a man will do many things to save his life--what is there that he wont do, indeed?" "Nothing dishonourable, if he be not a coward," answered Morley. "Coward, or no coward!" rejoined the young man--"coward, or no coward, no man likes the gallows, and it was to save myself from that, that I did what I did; besides, I saw that, some day or another, she would not have bread to eat. She has been forced to sell almost everything, even now. Neville offered to settle five hundred a-year upon her, if I would consent, and to hang me if I didn't. So I had no choice; but I would not have taken a farthing from him myself, for all the world."