He asked himself what awful memory of sorrow brought that horror of anguish to her face. But the moment kept him silent. He could not speak. “Oh, cruel sea!” she moaned. “You took my All—my All.” She shivered, and he folded her wrap more closely around her. Then she turned to him, and the look of anguish passed. There was gladness in her eyes. “Come in,” she said. “Let us come in; and shut the door.” SCENE VII “AND AFTER THAT—THE DARK” “Now,” said Lady Tintagel, as he put down his empty coffee-cup, “you may talk. There is no further need to wait.” “I want to tell you things from the beginning,” he said. “Will it bore you if I begin at the beginning?” “You could not bore me; and I would not miss one moment of the beginning. Tell me all.” “My name is Luke Sparrow, so named by the matron of the Foundlings’ Institution to which I was carried when a month old, or thereabouts, by the arm of the Law. I began life on a door-step—a suburban door-step. I have never known home, or kith, or kin. Like Melchisedec of old, I am without father, without mother, without descent; but there the resemblance ends; for Melchisedec was King of Salem, which is King of Peace, whereas I, from my infancy, have been possessed by a most restless demon. I was ‘Returned Empty’ and marked ‘Glass with Care’——” “Returned empty?” There was horror in her voice. “What—what _do_ you mean?” “The label,” he said; “the label pinned to the unwanted bundle had, printed in bold letters, on one side: RETURNED EMPTY, under which somebody who knew it, had written, presumably, the date of my birth. On the other side was printed GLASS WITH CARE, beneath which the same careful person had taken the trouble to write a Bible reference, most explicitly explaining the exact value of the said bundle: _Luke xii. 6_. ‘Are not five sparrows sold for two farthings?’ This apt quotation inspired the matron, on christening Sunday, to bestow upon me the name of Luke Sparrow. She was a good woman and meant well. But it was, ever after, a standing joke at the institution.” “Not one of them is forgotten before God,” said Lady Tintagel. “Yes, I know. But the close of the verse did not appear to be applicable, the bundle not containing a genuine sparrow but merely a lonely little human child, ‘Returned Empty.’” “Returned?” she said; “Empty!” There was tragedy in her voice.