"Leave me with her, Neville," said her brother--"leave me with her; I will bring her to, and will join you in an hour at Williams's." "Well, mind you!" cried the other, somewhat sternly--"remember, my lad, I have got my thumb upon you!" and uttering these words, Mr. Neville marched out of the room. As soon as the door of the house closed upon him, the youth knocked gently at that of his sister's room. "Helen!" he exclaimed; "Helen!--he is gone. Do come out and speak to me, there is a dear girl!" Helen Barham did come out; but her eyes were red with tears. "Oh, William!" she said, "I wonder you are not ashamed to see me----" "Nonsense, Helen," he cried, "I have often heard you laugh at idle prejudices." "Fie--fie!" she continued, not attending to him; "to wish to sell your sister to such a being as that! I did say that there is nothing I would not do to save you from destruction, but--oh! William----" "Well, then, Helen," he said, "this is the only way of saving me from destruction." "Not now, William," she exclaimed, "not now! The money which you got for the ear-rings will do for some time, surely; and before that is spent, I may get some other means of keeping myself and you." "You will never get enough to keep us comfortably," replied the youth; "and as to that, it does not matter whether you do or not; I tell you, the only way to save me from destruction, is----" "Is by my own, you would say," replied his sister. "Stuff and nonsense!" answered her brother; "they never hang people for that, Helen; and I tell you, that man could hang me, or very near it, if he chose." The face of Helen Barham turned as pale as death, and she sank into a chair without any reply, gazing in her brother's countenance, with silent agony, for several moments. "It is true, Helen," said her brother, doggedly, and setting his teeth hard, "it is true what I tell you." "Whoever heard of such horror!" exclaimed Helen Barham. "The brother would sell his sister, to be the mistress of a low-bred, horrible villain; and that villain would hang the brother, if the sister will not consent to her own destruction. Is that it, William?" "Not exactly," replied the youth; "you twist the matter which way you please, Helen. I said he could hang me if he liked, not that he would; and as for the rest, Helen, I don't sell you. I only want you to do the best for yourself, and for me too. You can never get enough by teaching, to keep me or you either. You are fond enough of fine clothes, I can tell you; and here's a man will give you as many as you want. He will settle five hundred a-year on you, just as if you were his wife. He can't marry you, you know, because he is married already." "Hush! hush! hush!" cried Helen Barham, stopping her ears "hush! and leave me. Do not make me hate myself! What did I ever say, William, to make you think that I would become any man's mistress for fine clothes?"