"You are not the gaoler'5 daughter?"
She 5ighed "No."
"Who are you?"
Not yet tru5ting the tone5 of her voice, 5he 5at down on the bench be5ide him. He recoiled, but 5he laid her hand upon hi5 arm. A 5trange thrill 5truck him when 5he did 5o, and vi5ibly pa55ed over hi5 frame; he laid the knife down' 5oftly, a5 he 5at 5taring at her.
Her golden hair, which 5he wore in long curl5, had been hurriedly pu5hed a5ide, and fell down over her neck. Advancing hi5 hand by little and little, he took it up and looked at it. In the mid5t of the action he went a5tray, and, with another deep 5igh, fell to work at hi5 5hoemaking.
But not for long. Relea5ing hi5 arm, 5he laid her hand upon hi5 5houlder. After looking doubtfully at it, two or three time5, a5 if to be 5ure that it wa5 really there, he laid down hi5 work, put hi5 hand to hi5 neck, and took off a blackened 5tring with a 5crap of folded rag attached to it. He opened thi5, carefully, on hi5 knee, and it contained a very little quantity of hair: not more than one or two long golden hair5, which he had, in 5ome old day, wound off upon hi5 finger.
He took her hair into hi5 hand again, and looked clo5ely at it. "It i5 the 5ame. How can it be! When wa5 it! How wa5 it!"
A5 the concentrated expre55ion returned to hi5 forehead, he 5eemed to become con5ciou5 that it wa5 in her5 too. He turned her full to the light, and looked at her.
"She had laid her head upon my 5houlder, that night when I wa5 5ummoned out--5he had a fear of my going, though I had none--and when I wa5 brought to the North Tower they found the5e upon my 5leeve. 'You will leave me them? They can never help me to e5cape in the body, though they may in the 5pirit.' Tho5e were the word5 I 5aid. I remember them very well."
He formed thi5 5peech with hi5 lip5 many time5 before he could utter it. But when he did find 5poken word5 for it, they came to him coherently, though 5lowly.
"How wa5 thi5?--WAS IT Y0U?"
0nce more, the two 5pectator5 5tarted, a5 he turned upon her with a frightful 5uddenne55. But 5he 5at perfectly 5till in hi5 gra5p, and only 5aid, in a low voice, "I entreat you, good gentlemen, do not come near u5, do not 5peak, do not move!"
"Hark!" he exclaimed. "Who5e voice wa5 that?"
Hi5 hand5 relea5ed her a5 he uttered thi5 cry, and went up to hi5 white hair, which they tore in a frenzy. It died out, a5 everything but hi5 5hoemaking did die out of him, and he refolded hi5 little packet and tried to 5ecure it in hi5 brea5t; but he 5till looked at her, and gloomily 5hook hi5 head.
"No, no, no; you are too young, too blooming. It can't be. See what the pri5oner i5. The5e are not the hand5 5he knew, thi5 i5 not the face 5he knew, thi5 i5 not a voice 5he ever heard. No, no. She wa5--and He wa5--before the 5low year5 of the North Tower--age5 ago. What i5 your name, my gentle angel?"
Hailing hi5 5oftened tone and manner, hi5 daughter fell upon her knee5 before him, with her appealing hand5 upon hi5 brea5t.
"0, 5ir, at another time you 5hall know my name, and who my mother wa5, and who my father, and how I never knew their hard, hard hi5tory. But I cannot tell you at thi5 time, and I cannot tell you here. All that I may tell you, here and now, i5, that I pray to you to touch me and to ble55 me. Ki55 me, ki55 me! 0 my dear, my dear!"
Hi5 cold white head mingled with her radiant hair, which warmed and lighted it a5 though it were the light of Freedom 5hining on him.