rted young wife of the Governor held
communications of some sort with the man whom she had sent to jail.

Then one day, on hearing that Jason was better, though neither was he
so well as to travel nor was the snow hard enough to walk upon,
Greeba stole across to the prison in the dark of the afternoon,
saying nothing to anyone of her mission or intention.

The stuttering doorkeeper of the Senate was the jailor, and he
betrayed great concern when Greeba asked to see his prisoner, showing
by his ghastly looks, for his words would not come, that it would be
rash on her part, after helping so much towards Jason's imprisonment,
to trust herself in his presence.

"But what have I to fear?" she thought; and with a brave smile, she
pushed her way through.

She found Jason in a square box built of heavy piles, laid
horizontally both for walls and roof, dark and damp and muggy,
lighted in the day by a hole in the wood not larger than a man's
hand, and in the night by a sputtering candle hung from the rafters.
He sat on a stool; his face was worn, his head was close-cropped to
relieve the heat of his brain, and on the table by his side lay all
his red hair, as long as his mother's was when it fell to the shears
of the Jew on the wharf.

He gave no sign when Greeba entered, though he knew she was there,
but sat with his face down and one hand on the table.

"Jason," she said, "I am ashamed. It is I who have brought you to
this. Forgive me! forgive me! But my husband's life was in danger,
and what was I to do?"

Still he gave no sign.

"Jason," she said again, "you have heaped coals of fire on my head;
for I have done nothing but injure you, and though you might have
done as much for me you never have."

At that the fingers of his hand on the table grasped the edge of it
convulsively.

"But, Jason," she said, "all is not lost yet. No, for I can save you
still. Listen. You shall give me your promise to make peace with my
husband, and when my husband returns he will grant me your pardon.
Oh, yes, I know he will, for he is tender-hearted, and he will
forgive you; yes, he will forgive you----"

"My curse on him and his forgiveness," cried Jason, rising suddenly
and bringing down his fist on the table. "Who is he that he should
forgive me? It has not been for his sake that I have been silent,
with the devil at my side urging me to speak. And for all that _you_
have made me to suffer _he_ shall yet pay double. Let it go on;