unbar's sweetheart. Their
engagement is no secret, and he is a lucky man; for she is as good as
she is pretty, and as sweet as she is rich. She has shown such a tender
interest in you, and manifests so much sympathy, that I am sure she
will influence him in your favor, and I feel so encouraged about your
future."

A shadowy smile crossed the girl's wan face,

"Invest no hope in my future; for escape is as impossible for me, as
for that innocent victim foreordained to entangle his horns in the
thicket on Mount Moriah. He could have fled from the sacrificial fire,
and from Abraham's uplifted knife, back to dewy green pastures
poppy-starred, back to some cool dell where Syrian oleanders flushed
the shade, as easily as I can defy these walls, loosen the chain of
fate, elude my awful doom."

"It is because you are not yet yourself, that you take such a
despairing view of matters. After a while, things will look very
different, and you are too plucky to surrender your life without a
brave fight. A great change has come over Mr. Dunbar, and there is no
telling what he cannot do, when he sets to work. If ever a lawyer's
heart has been gnawed by remorse, it is his. He and Miss Gordon
together can pull you out of the bog, and I believe they will."

"Mr. Dunbar's professional reputation is more precious in his sight
than a poor girl's life; moreover, even if he desired to undo his work,
he could not. I am beyond human succor. Fate nails me to a cross, but
God consents; so I make no struggle, for behind fate stands God--and my
father."

Wearily she leaned back on her pillows, and turned her face to the
wall. Mrs. Singleton drew the blankets over her, folded her own shawl
about the shoulders, and smoothing away the hair, kissed her on the
temple; then stole into the adjoining room, where her children slept.

Before the fire that leaped and crackled in the wide chimney, and
leaning forward to rest her turbaned head against the mantelpiece,
while she spread her hands toward the blaze, stood a much muffled
figure.

"Dyce!"

Mrs. Singleton had left the door ajar, and the old woman turned and
pointed to it, laying one finger on her lips; but the warning came too
late.

"Hush! I don't want her to know I am here. Your husband told me she was
sitting up, and in her right mind, but too weak to stand any more
trouble. I wish I could run away, and never see her again, for when I
go in there, I feel like I was carrying a knife to c