a sky black as pitch � i could scarcely see my own hand if i stretched it out before me the night was so dark all at once i heard the quick gallop of a horse s hoofs some way oflf � then the sound seemed to die away � but presently i heard the hoofs coming at a slow steady pace down our muddy old by road � no one can gallop that in any weather and almost before i how it came there the horse was standing at the gate with a man in the saddle carrying a bundle in front of him he was the fellow i ever saw and when he dismounted and towards me and took off his cap in the pouring rain and smiled at me i was fairly taken with his looks i thou t he must be something of a king or other great personage by his very manner wiu you do me a kindness he said as gently as you please this is a i believe i want to leave my little child here in safe keeping for a night she is such a baby � i cannot carry her any further through storm and he put aside the of the bundle he carried and showed me a small pale infant asleep she s he added and i m taking her to my relatives but i have to ride some from here on very m business and if you will look after her for to night i ll call for her to morrow poor little innocent she s hungry and i haven t anything to give her and the storm looks like continuing will you let her stay with you certainly said i thinking a bit further about it leave her here by all means we ll see she gets all she wants he gave me the child at once and said in a very soft voice you are most generous � verily i have not found so great a faith no not in you re sure you don t mind not at all i answered him � ll come back for her to morrow of course he smiled and said � oh yes of course to morrow i m really very much obliged to you then he seemed to think for a moment and put his hand in his pocket but i stopped him � no sir i said excuse me but i don t want any pay for giving a babe a night s shelter he looked at me very straight with his big clear eyes and then shook hands with me you re an honest he said � and he stooped and kissed the child he had put into my arms i m extremely sorry to trouble you but the storm is too much for helpless little creature you yourself are wet through i interrupted that doesn t matter he answered � for me nothing matters thank you a thousand times good ni t the rain was coming down faster than ever and i stepped back into ihe shed covering the child up so that the drifting wet should not beat upon it he came after me and kissed it again saying good night poor little innocent good night three or four times then he went off quickly and sprang into his saddle and in the of rain i saw horse and man turn away he waved his hand once and his handsome her fancy and his fact pale face gleamed upon me like that of a ghost in the storm till to morrow he called and was gone i took the child into the house and called she was always a rough one as you know even in her younger days and she at once laid her tongue to with a will and as far as she dared called me a fool for my pains and so i was for when i came to think of it the man was a stranger to me and i had never asked him bis name it was just his handsome face and the way he had with him that had thrown me off my guard as it were so i stood and looked silly enough i suppose while about with the baby for it had and was crying well � and heaved a short sigh � that s about all we never saw the man again and the child was never claimed but every six months i received a couple of bank notes in an envelope bearing a different each time with the words tor innocent written in � she uttered a quick almost terrified exclamation and drew her hand away from his every six months for a steady twelve years on end he went on � then the money suddenly stopped now you understand don t you you were the babe that was left with me that stormy night and you ve been with me ever since but you re not my child i don t know whose child you are he stopped looking at her she had risen from her seat beside him and was standing up she was trembling violently and her face seemed changed from the round and softness of youth to the worn and of age her eyes were luminous with a hard and feverish brilliancy you � you don t know whose child i ami she innocent repeated � i am not yours � and you don t know � you don t know who i belong to oh it hurts me i � it hurts me i can t it i thought you were my own dear father � and i loved you � oh how much i loved you � yet you have deceived me all along i haven t deceived you he answered impatiently i ve done all for the best � i meant to tell you when you married robin 