90 DOGGED JACK.

so great and so hopeless, and is in my mind so
fresh and keen (though it happened fourteen years
ago), that it is as painful to me to speak of it now
as it was when it came upon me first."
 "Dear Mr. Lane!" cried Jack, awed by the
solemnity of his friend, "do not tell me what dis-
tresses you so much."
 The young man held his hand up to impose
silence.
 "I have often thought of telling you, but your
manner just now when you spoke of your father
has decided me. You must hear me out, and may
God in His great mercy make my lifelong anguish
prove a warning to save you from the same bitter
and incurable grief!"

 ^^* ~h..