tidings. Last night I spent in that room at 'Elm Bluff',
guarding that door; and the vigil was cheered by the picture hope drew,
that when I came to-day you would greet me kindly; would lay your dear
hands in mine, and tell me that, at least, gratitude would always keep
a place for me warm in your noble heart. I have my recompense in the
old currency of scorn. It were well for you if you had shown me your
hatred less plainly; now I shall indulge less hesitation in following
the clue the lightning lays in my grasp. I warn you that your release
only expedites his arrest; for you can never pass beyond my
surveillance; and the day you hasten to him, seals his fate. Long
imprisoned doves, when set free, fly straight to their distant mates;
so--take care--lest the hawk overtake both."

Looking up at him, listening almost breathlessly to the tale of a
deliverance that involved new peril for Bertie, the color came slowly
back to her blanched face, and her parted lips quivered.

"If the picture means anything, it proves that Gen'l Darrington made
the assault with the brass andiron, and in the struggle that followed,
the man you saw might have killed him in self defence."

"When he is brought to trial in X--he shall never be allowed the
benefit of your affectionate supposition. I promise you, that I will
annihilate your tenderly devised theory."

He ground his teeth in view of the transparent fact, that she was too
intently considering the bearing of the revelation upon the safety of
another, to heed the thought of her own escape from bondage.

The little cluster of flowers fastened at her throat had become
loosened, and fell unnoticed into her lap. He stooped, picked them up,
and straightened them on his palm. When his eyes returned to Beryl, she
had bowed her face in her shielding hands.

How little he dreamed that she was silently praying for strength to
deny the cry of her own beating heart, and to keep him from making
shipwreck of the honor which she supposed was still pledged to Leo!
Security for her brother, and unswerving loyalty to the absent woman
who had befriended her in the darkest hours of the accusation, were
objects difficult to accomplish simultaneously; yet at every hazard she
would struggle on. Because she had learned to love so well this man,
who was the promised husband of another, conscience made her merciless
to her own disloyalty.

Mr. Dunbar laid on the bench a small package sealed in yellow paper