"He stopped short there; and I--Yes, and I must stop short too. It is very absurd, Miss Vine, for me to be asked all this." "Go on--go on!" said Louise hoarsely. Leslie glanced at her, and withdrew his eyes. "`Will you go abroad, Harry, and make a new beginning?' I said. "Poor lad! he was utterly broken down, and he would have thrown himself upon his knees to me if I had not forced him to keep his seat." "My brother!" sighed Louise. "I asked him then if he would be willing to leave you all, and go right away; and I told him what I proposed--that I had a brother superintending some large tin-mines north of Malacca. That I would give him such letters as would insure a welcome, and telegraph his coming under an assumed name." "And he accepted?" "Yes. There, I have nothing to add to all this. I went across with him to Paris, and, after securing a berth for him, we went south to Marseilles, where I saw him on board one of the Messageries Maritimes vessels bound for the East, and we parted. That is all." "But money; necessaries, Mr Leslie? He was penniless." "Oh, no," said Leslie, smiling; and Louise pressed her teeth upon her quivering lip. "There," said Leslie, "I would not have said all this, but you forced it from me; and now you know all, try to be at rest. As I told Mr Vine last night, I suppose it would mean trouble with the authorities if it were known, but I think I was justified in what I did. We understand Harry's nature better than any judge, and our plan for bringing him back to his life as your brother is better than theirs. So," he went on with a pleasant smile, "we will keep our secret about him. My brother Dick is one of the truest fellows that ever stepped, and Harry is sure to like him. The climate is not bad. It will be a complete change of existence, and some day when all this trouble is forgotten he can return." "My brother exiled: gone for ever." "My dear Miss Vine," said Leslie quietly, "the world has so changed now that we can smile at all those old-fashioned ideas. Your brother is in Malacca. Well, I cannot speak exactly, but I believe I am justified in saying that you could send a message to him from this place in Cornwall, and get an answer by to-morrow morning at the farthest, perhaps to-night. Your father at one time could not have obtained one from Exeter in the same space. "There," he continued quietly, "you are agitated now, and I will say good-bye. Is not that Madelaine Van Heldre coming up the path? Yes, unmistakably. Now let us bury the past and look forward to the future-- a happier one for you, I hope and pray. Good-bye." He held out his hand, and she looked at him wonderingly. "Good-bye?"