There was no repentance in that!"
"It would have been a terrible sin!" said the boy, with a slight
shudder. "But God prevented you from committing it."
"But I'm a thief still, and a coward, for I sneaked away in the night,
fearing to meet Sophie's eyes, and afraid to tell the professor what I
was and what I had done. I left all the burden of my sins to be borne by
women and an infirm old man, and I am going, with a stolen fortune, to
forget I ever had a heart or a soul."
"Are you going, and do you think you can forget?" asked the boy, with a
smile.
"Don't you give me up yet?" returned Bressant, trembling. "What is left
for me?"
"Why, every thing is left for you!" exclaimed the boy, his smile
brightening in his eyes. "You seem to forget that you haven't gone off
with any stolen money yet! You must begin at the next station, and
devote your whole life--no less will answer--to redeeming yourself. Only
be sure not to delay, and not to hesitate."
Bressant looked at his companion, and thought there was something divine
and unearthly almost in his manner, and especially in the light that
came from his gray eyes.
"As for the stolen money," the boy continued, "all you have to do about
that is, to let it alone; it is safe, and will be cared for.
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