old face, as he put before me the thoughts I had dared to
entertain, the risks I had been ready to take towards the
woman I loved--the woman to whom I owed a deep debt of
eternal gratitude.

"Julie, it is strange how this appointment affects me. Last
night I saw several people at the Embassy--good fellows--who
seemed anxious to do all they could for me. Such men never
took so much notice of me before. It is plain to me that this
task will make or mar me. I may fail. I may die. But if I
succeed England will owe me something, and these men at the
top of the tree--

"Good God! how can I go on writing this to you? It's because
I came back to the hotel and tossed about half the night
brooding over the difference between what these men--these
honorable, distinguished fellows--were prepared to think of
me, and the blackguard I knew myself to be. What, take
everything from a woman's hand, and then turn and try and
drag her in the mire--propose to her what one would shoot a
man for proposing to one's sister! Thief and cur.

"Julie--kind, beloved Julie--forget it all! For God's sake,
let's cast it all behind us! As long as I live, your name,
your memory will live in my heart. We shall not meet,
probably, for many years. You'll marry and be happy yet. Just
now I know you're suffering. I seem to see you in the
train--on the steamer--your pale face that has lighted up
life for me--your dear, slender hands that folded so easily
into one of mine. You are in pain, my darling. Your nature is
wrenched from its natural supports. And you gave me all your
fine, clear mind, and all your heart. I ought to be damned to
the deepest hell!

"Then, again, I say to myself, if only she were here! If only
I had her _here_, with her arms round my neck, surely I might
have found the courage and the mere manliness to extricate
both herself and me from these entanglements. Aileen might
have released and forgiven one.

"No, no! It's all over! I'll go and do my task. You set it
me. You sha'n't be ashamed of me there.

"Good-bye, Julie, my love--good-bye--forever!"

These were portions of that strange document composed through the
intervals of a long night, which showed in Warkworth's mind the survival
of a moral code, inherited from generations of scrupulous