"Why, Rathbone, I mean to condescend to do what, under any other
circumstances, would be most unjustifiable--that is, listen to the
conversation of Mrs. Ragg with Minna Gray; I do so with the concurrence
of the old lady, who is to lead her to speak of Tobias, and it is solely
for the purpose of judging if she really loves the boy, and making a
proper report to the surgeon, that I do so." "You are right enough, Jeffery; the end in this case, at all events,
sanctifies the means, however defective such a system of philosophy may
be as a general thing. May I likewise be an auditor?" "I was going to ask you to so far oblige me, for I shall then have the
advantage of your opinion; so you will do me a favour." There was a small pantry called a butler's pantry close to the kitchen,
into which Mrs. Ragg had taken Minna Gray. A door opened from this
pantry into the kitchen, and another on to the landing at the foot of
the kitchen stairs. Now Mrs. Ragg was to take care that the door opening
to the kitchen should be just ajar, and the colonel and his friend could
get into the pantry by the other mode of entrance. Colonel Jeffery was a
gentleman in the fullest sense of the term, and he kept no useless
bloated menials about him, so the butler's pantry had no butler to
interfere with him, the colonel, in his own house. In the course of a
few minutes Jeffery and Rathbone were in the pantry, from whence they
could both see and hear what passed in the kitchen. To be sure there was
a certain air of restraint about Mrs. Ragg at the thought that her
master was listening to what passed, and that lady had a propensity to
use hard words, of the meaning of which she was in the most delightful
state of ignorance; but as it was to Minna Gray's conversation that the
colonel wanted to listen, these little peculiarities of Mrs. Ragg upon
the occasion did not much matter. Of course, Minna thought she had no
other auditors than her old friend. Mrs. Ragg was quite busy over the
tea. "Well, my dear," she said to Minna, "this is a world we live in." Mrs. Ragg, no doubt, intended this as a discursive sort of remark that
might open any conversation very well, and lead to anything, and she was
not disappointed, for it seemed to give to the young girl courage to
utter that which was struggling to her lips. "Mrs.--Mrs. Ragg," she began, hesitatingly. "Yes. My dear, let me fill your cup." "Thank you; but I was going to say--"

"A little more sugar?" "No, no. But I cannot place a morsel in my lips, Mrs. Ragg, or think or
speak to you of anything else, until you have told me if you have heard
any news of poor--poor--"

"Tobias?" "Yes--yes--yes!" Minna Gray placed her two little hands upon her face and burst into
tears. Mrs. Ragg made a snuffling sort of noise that, no doubt, was
highly sympathetic, and after a pause of a few moments' duration, Minna
gathered courage to speak again. "You know, Mrs. Ragg, the last you told me of him was that--that Mr.
Todd had said he was mad, you know, and then you went to fetch somebody,
and when you came back he was gone; and Mr. Todd told you the next day
that poor Tobias ran off at great speed and disappeared. Has anything
been heard of him since?" "Ah, my dear, alas! alas!" "Why do you cry alas?--Have you any more sad news to tell me?" "He was my only son--and all the world and his wife, as the saying is,
can't tell how much I loved him." Minna Gray clasped her hands, and, while the tears coursed down her
young fair cheeks, she said--

"And I, too, loved him!" "I always thought you did, my dear, and I'm sure, if you had been an
angel out of Heaven, my poor boy could not have thought more of you than
he did. There was nothing that you said or did that was not excellent. He loved the ground you walked on; and a little old worsted mitten, that
you left at our place once, he used to wear round his neck, and kiss it
when he thought no one was nigh, and say--'This was my Minna's!'" The young girl let her head rest upon her hands, and sobbed
convulsively. "Lost--lost!" she said, "and poor, kind, good Tobias is lost!" "No, my dear, it's a long lane that hasn't a turning. Pluck up your
courage, and your courage will pluck up you. Keep sixpence in one
pocket, and hope in another. When things are at the worst they mend. You
can't get further down in a well than the bottom." Minna sobbed on. "And so, my dear," added Mrs. Ragg, "I do know something more of
Tobias." The young girl looked up. "He lives!--he lives!" "Lor a mussy, don't lay hold of a body so. Of course he lives, and,
what's more, the doctor says that you ought to see him--he's up stairs." "Here?--here?" "Yes, to be sure. That's why I brought you to tea." Minna Gray took a fit of trembling, and then, making great efforts to
compose herself, she said--

"Tell me all--tell me all!" "Well, my dear, it's an ill wind that blows nobody good, and so here I
am, cook in as good a place as mortal woman would wish to have. I can't
tell you all the rights of the story, because I don't know it. But
certainly Tobias is up stairs in bed like a gentleman, only they say as
his brains is--is something or another that makes him not understand
anything or anybody, and so you see the doctor says if you speak to him,
who knows but what he may come to himself?" With an intuitive tact that belongs to some minds, and which Minna Gray,
despite the many disadvantages of her social position, possessed in an
eminent degree, she understood at once the whole affair. Tobias was
suffering from some aberration of intellect, which the voice and the
presence of one whom he loved fondly might dissipate. Would she shrink
from the trial?--would her delicacy take the alarm and overcome her
great desire to recover Tobias? Oh, no; she loved him with a love that
far outstripped all smaller feelings, and, if ever there was a time when
that love took complete possession of her heart, it was at this
affecting moment, when she was told that her voice might have the magic
power of calling back to him the wandering reason that harshness and
ill-usage had for a time toppled from its throne. "Take me to him!" she cried--"take me to him! If all that is wanted to
recover him be the voice of affection, he will soon be as he was once to
us." "Well, my dear, take your tea, and I'll go and speak to the _kernel_." It was now time for Colonel Jeffery and his friend, the captain, to
retire from the pantry, where we need not say that they had been pleased
and affected listeners to what had passed between Mrs. Ragg and the fair
and intelligent Minna Gray, who, in beauty and intelligence, far
exceeded their utmost expectations. CHAPTER XLVII. TOBIAS RECOVERS HIS INTELLECT. In the course of a quarter of an hour the surgeon was sent for, and then
Mrs. Ragg tapped at the drawing-room door, to give the colonel an
account of the success of her mission; but he at once said to her--

"We know all, Mrs. Ragg.