Dr. Bates, with a crest-fallen air, turned in haste to leave the room, but his better feelings prevailed, and stepping back he said, “I am young, foolish, and conceited, I know, sir, and I hope I have learned a valuable lesson this day.” Then, going up to Daph, he added earnestly, “I have wronged you, good woman, and from the bottom of my heart I am sorry for it. If it should ever be in my power to serve you, I should be glad to make amends for what I have done.” “Now don’t, sir! don’t, please!” said Daph, dropping curtsy after curtsy, and murmuring, “the young gemman meant no harm, Ise sure,” while Dr. Bates slowly left the room. As soon as the doctor was out of sight, Mrs. Ray took Daph by the hand, and humbly asked her forgiveness. “Now don’t, Miss’ Ray, I do be shamed!” said Daph, in great confusion, her own tears for the first time beginning to flow. “Don’t speak so to a poor cretur like me. We’s all poor sinners; it’s only the Lord Jesus,” sweet Miss Rose says, “that can make us clean.” The thought of having said so much in the presence of a “real gentleman” now overcame Daph, and she suddenly relapsed into silence. “Come, Daph!” said Diedrich Stuyvesant, “it is time for you to be out of this place.” “May I go free, sir?” said Daph, with a wondering, joyous look. “Free as air!” was the reply of Mr. Stuyvesant; “there’s no power in New York can keep an innocent woman in such a place as this.” Daph poured forth her thanks to her deliverer, and Diedrich Stuyvesant walked forth, followed by the woman. He was detained but for a moment in the doorway by the officers, by whom Daph had been arrested, who pleaded that no action should be taken against them for their unwarrantable proceeding, and were glad to be assured that their fault, for this once, would be passed over. It excited some wonder when the well-known citizen passed along the street, closely followed by Mrs. Ray and Daph; but he cared little for the remarks of the passers-by, his mind having been once made up to see Daph safely restored to the home from which she had been so rudely taken. Diedrich Stuyvesant moved at what was an unwonted pace for him, and the house with the blue shutters was soon reached, and the door of the familiar room thrown open. Rose Stuyvesant was sitting on a low chair, Louise at her side, and Charlie on her lap; while the book with golden clasps was open in her hand. With one shout of joy, the children darted towards Daph, and gave her a welcome which filled her honest heart with joy. That sight was a reward to Diedrich Stuyvesant for all the unwonted labors of the day. “Come, Rose!” he said, “they can do without us now. I must learn to know these little people some other day. But stay,” he added, as he looked round on the scrupulously neat, but very plainly furnished apartment, “Daph, I must speak to you a moment, before I go.”