“No! no!” cried Harriet, “there is no time, I cannot rest; you must satisfy my mind at once, or I shall go mad! I have not closed my eyes all night--the time was interminable, but how could I sleep! I seemed to be torn in pieces by ten thousand devils!” “My dear child,” said Doctor Phillips, as he laid his hand on hers and looked her steadily in the face, “you are over-excited. You must try to restrain yourself.” He went up to a side table and, pouring out some cordial, made her drink it. Harriet gulped it down, and sank back exhausted in a chair. She was weak and worn-out with the excitement she had passed through. “Come! that is better,” said the doctor, as he saw the tears stealing from beneath her closed eyelids, “now, don’t hurry yourself! Keep quiet till you feel strong enough to speak, and then tell me what it is that brings you here!” The allusion appeared to stir up all her misery again. She sat upright and grasped the doctor by the arm as she had done at first. “You must tell me,” she said breathlessly, “you must tell me all I want to know. They say you knew my father and mother in Jamaica! Is that true?” The old doctor began to feel uncomfortable. It is one thing to warn those in whom you are interested against a certain person, or persons, and another to be confronted with the individual you have spoken of, and forced to repeat your words. Yet Doctor Phillips was innocent of having misjudged, or slandered anyone. “I _did_ know your father and mother--for a short time!” he answered cautiously. “And were they married to each other?” “My dear young lady, what is the use of dragging up such questions now? Your parents are both gone to their account--why not let all that concerned them rest also?” “No! no! you forget that I live--to suffer the effects of their wrong-doing! I _must_ know the truth--I will not leave the house until you tell me! Were they married? Am I a--a--bastard?” “If you insist upon knowing, I believe they were not married--at least it was the general opinion in the Island. But would not Mr. Tarver be the proper person to inform you of anything which you may wish to know?” Harriet seized his hand and carried it to her forehead--it was burning hot. “Feel that!” she exclaimed, “and you would have me wait for weeks before I could get any satisfaction from Mr. Tarver, and not then perhaps! Do you think I could live through the agony of suspense. I should kill myself before the answer to my letter came. No! you are the only person that can give me any satisfaction. Madame Gobelli told me to ask you for the truth, if I did not believe her!” “Madame Gobelli,” reiterated the doctor in surprise.