Vincent clutched and took them up with a certain blind eagerness, not knowing what he did. He did not look at them to satisfy himself that what Fordham said was true. A wild, half-conscious idea that there must be something in them about Susan possessed him; he saw neither dates nor post-mark, though he held them up to the light, as if they were proofs of something. "No," he said at last, "it was not you--it was that fiend Mildmay, Rachel Russell's husband. Where is he? he has taken your name, and made you responsible for his devilish deeds. Help me, if you are a Christian! My sister is in his hands, curse him! Help me, for the sake of your name, to find them out. I am a stranger, and they will give me no information; but they will tell you. For God's sake, ask and let me go after them. If ever you were beholden to the help of Christian men, help me! for it is life and death!" "Mildmay! Rachel Russell's husband? under my name?" said Mr. Fordham, slowly. "I _have_ been beholden to Christian men, and that for very life. You make a strong appeal: who are you that are so desperate? and what was that you said?" "I am Susan Vincent's brother," said the young Nonconformist; "that is enough. This devil has taken your name; help me, for heaven's sake, to find him out!" "Mildmay?--devil? yes, he is a devil! you are right enough: I owe him no love," said Fordham; then he paused and turned away, as if in momentary perplexity. "To help that villain to his reward would be a man's duty; but," said the stranger, with a heavy sigh, upon which his words came involuntarily, spoken to himself, breathing out of his heart--"he is _her_ brother, devil though he is!"