ly I
have not been able to care about anything. I am not the least bit
excited that you are here. It merely seems quite natural and rather
pleasant."

"Is anything the matter?" he asked anxiously. "You look very thin and
worn, and the house--it was like entering the receiving vault on Lone
Mountain. I thought when I came in that you were having a funeral, at
least."

"It has been like that for four years. Uncle died, and papa was afraid
to trust himself in the world for fear he would relapse into his natural
instincts. So he shut himself up, makes us live on next to nothing, and
of course we go nowhere, for we have no clothes. Mamma has been ill with
nervous prostration for months, and now I feel sure that papa has gone
insane. I have only spoken to him once in four years; but I have been
certain that he would lose his mind finally, and I have just discovered
that he is quite mad."

"Good God! We'll be married to-morrow. I never imagined your father
would hit upon any new eccentricities. You poor little hermit! I fancied
you going to parties and plodding at your stories. I never dreamed that
you were shut up in a dungeon. I shall see that you are happy
hereafter."

"I feel sad and worn out. I don't think I can ever feel much of anything
again."

"Oh, you'll get over that," he replied cheerfully; he was as practical
as ever. "What you want is plenty of sun and fresh air and a rest from
your family. If your father is insane, he'll go into an asylum; and a
rest cure is the place for your mother. That will dispose of her while
we are taking our honeymoon in the redwoods. Do you think you could
stand camping out?"

"I could stand anything so long as it was the country once more," she
said, with her first flash of enthusiasm. "But there is something I
should tell you. Perhaps after you hear it you won't want to marry me. I
tried to kill Helena once."

"You did what?" he said, staring at her.

"She came to me just after leaving you, on the night of your last
interview. I was very much worked up before she came, had been for a
long while; and when she told me that she had treated you badly and had
thrown you over, after taking you away from me, I suddenly wanted to
kill her, and I took my dagger out of the drawer beside me. It was very
dark, but she had an instinct, and she jumped up and ran away. I never
knew I could feel so; but every bit of blood in my body seemed shrieking
in my head, and if she had not gone I s