As it
was, he laid a finger on his lips, and looked towards her brother.
'To say that I give both pledges, Mr. Crisparkle, out of my
innermost heart, and to say that there is no treachery in it, is to
say nothing!' Thus Neville, greatly moved. 'I beg your
forgiveness for my miserable lapse into a burst of passion.'
'Not mine, Neville, not mine. You know with whom forgiveness lies,
as the highest attribute conceivable. Miss Helena, you and your
brother are twin children. You came into this world with the same
dispositions, and you passed your younger days together surrounded
by the same adverse circumstances. What you have overcome in
yourself, can you not overcome in him? You see the rock that lies
in his course. Who but you can keep him clear of it?'
'Who but you, sir?' replied Helena. 'What is my influence, or my
weak wisdom, compared with yours!'
'You have the wisdom of Love,' returned the Minor Canon, 'and it
was the highest wisdom ever known upon this earth, remember. As to
mine--but the less said of that commonplace commodity the better.
Good night!'
She took the hand he offered her, and gratefully and almost
reverently raised it to her lips.
'Tut!' said the Minor Canon softly, 'I am much overpaid!' and
turned away.
Retracing his steps towards the Cathedral Close, he tried, as he
went along in the dark, to think out the best means of bringing to
pass what he had promised to effect, and what must somehow be done.
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