; and she had stood there
trembling till it died away; and that formed part of her dream.

But now the voice was here in this room, and he caught her hand with a
wildly suspicious look in his eye.

"What are you thinking?" he said.

She turned upon him sharply.

"The name of your friend with whom you took refuge that night?" she
said; and her eyes flashed as she gazed searchingly in his.

He dropped her hand, and turned away, with his lips compressed and face
contracted.

"Mark," she cried, "why do you not speak? Where did you go that night
when you returned?"

He looked at her for a moment, and then turned away again. "I do not
know," he said hoarsely.

"It is not true," cried Rich. "You must speak now. It was to our house
you came."

"What!"

"I remember now. I heard your voice. You were with my father--in the
surgery."

"Rich," he said, almost savagely, as he caught her wrist, "think of what
you are saying!"

"Rich dear, don't say that!" cried Janet piteously.

"I know what I am saying," she said excitedly; and though her face was
calm, it was evident that she was suffering terribly.

"No, no," he cried; "no, dear, you are wrong."

"No, Mark, I am right: you told us you took refuge with a friend--that
friend was my father."

"What! Rich, do you know what you are saying--do you know what this
means if the police should hear?"

"Yes," she cried; "the clearing up of a terrible mystery; perhaps the
restoration of all that you have lost."

"Janet, is she mad?" cried Mark. "Do you not see what all this means?"

Janet shook her head with a helpless look on her face.

"Then I will tell you," he thundered: "it means ruin--misery to us all.
Girl, for pity's sake, be silent! Rich, dear Rich, I love you with a
man's first strong love. Have I not slaved for you all these years, to
win you for my own true wife? Don't--don't raise this up between us.
What is poverty to such a shadow as this?"

"I do not understand you," she cried; "but it is true. You did come to
my father's house that night."

He gazed at her in blank despair.

"Why do you look at me like that? Do you not see the light?"

"The light!" he cried, with a bitter laugh. "I see you--the woman I
love--trying to force me into a position which I would sooner die than
hold. Hush, for mercy's sake! No, no, no!" he muttered; and then
aloud, "Call it a lie, or a desperate man's last cry for help. I did
not come to your father's