So Dr Thorpe; but Isoult was silent. Tears would not come yet. "Who were the two, Jack? Is it Robin or Esther they have taken?" pursued Dr Thorpe, with his brows knit. "Both," said he, shortly. It was strange: but for the first moment Isoult had not remembered either Esther or Robin. Two thoughts alone were present to her; that Mr Rose was taken, and that John was safe. Now the full sorrow broke on her. "O Jack, Jack! our Robin!--and Esther, too!" "Beloved," said he, his voice trembling, "both are safe with Him who having died for His own that are in the world, loveth them unto the end. There shall not an hair of their heads perish. `Of them that thou gavest Me have I lost none.'" "Who was the other that 'scaped them?" "A man whose name I knew not," said John. "Both we stood close to a great closet in the wall, and slid therein noiselessly on the Sheriff's entering; and by the good providence of God, it never came in their heads to open that door. So when they all were gone, and the street quiet, we could go softly down the stairs, and win thence." "And where were Robin and Esther?" "Esther was on the further side of the chamber, by Mistress Sheerson, and Robin stood near Rose at the other end thereof." "Was the service over?" "No. Rose was in the act of giving the bread of the Lord's Supper." Dr Thorpe asked all these questions, and more; Isoult could ask only one. "How shall I tell _them_?" The troubles of that night were so many that she could scarcely feel each to the full. She would have sorrowed more for Esther had there not been Robin; and perchance even more for Robin had Mrs Rose's anguish and Thekla's weighed less upon her. "Thank God, Thekla was not there!" said John. The last word had not fallen from his lips when, with no sound to herald her coming, Thekla herself stood before them. The light died away from her eyes like the sun under a cloud, and the colour left her lips; yet her voice was calm. "Then they have taken my father?" John bowed his head. Her sudden appearing choked his voice, and he could find no words to answer her. "And Robin?" He bowed his head again. "Perchance, had I been there, Mr Avery, I had thanked God rather." As she said this, one great sob escaped her and she, turned round and went back up the stairs without another word. No one made any motion to follow. Her voice would break the tidings best, and this was an agony which none could spare her. In dead silence they sat for nearly half an hour. No sound came from the chamber above, save the soft murmur of Thekla's voice, which could just be heard when they listened for it. Her mother's voice they did not hear at all. At last Isoult rose, lighted a candle, and went gently up-stairs. She paused a moment at Mrs Rose's door. Should she go in, or not? All she could hear was Thekla reading or repeating a verse of Scripture. "`In the world ye shall have tribulation; but be of good cheer: I have overcome the world.'"