him. Oh, dear, dear! why did I ever come to Rome?"

"Now, my dear, you must not let yourself take an exaggerated view of the
case. Sad and shocking as it is to have been so deceived, it is what
happens to many of us, though not to so terrible a degree; and as to your
coming to Rome having anything to do with it--"

(Mrs. Forbes almost smiled at the idea, so anxious was she to banish the
idea of self-reproach from Ellinor's sensitive mind, but Ellinor
interrupted her abruptly:)

"Mrs. Forbes! did he--did Canon Livingstone tell you that I must leave to-
morrow? I must go to England as fast as possible to do what I can for
Dixon."

"Yes, he told us you were thinking of it, and it was partly that made me
force myself in upon you to-night. I think, my love, you are mistaken in
feeling as if you were called upon to do more than what the canon tells
me Miss Monro has already done in your name--engaged the best legal
advice, and spared no expense to give the suspected man every chance.
What could you do more even if you were on the spot? And it is very
possible that the trial may have come on before you get home. Then what
could you do? He would either have been acquitted or condemned; if the
former, he would find public sympathy all in his favour; it always is for
the unjustly accused. And if he turns out to be guilty, my dear Ellinor,
it will be far better for you to have all the softening which distance
can give to such a dreadful termination to the life of a poor man whom
you have respected so long."

But Ellinor spoke again with a kind of irritated determination, very
foreign to her usual soft docility:

"Please just let me judge for myself this once. I am not ungrateful. God
knows I don't want to vex one who has been so kind to me as you have
been, dear Mrs. Forbes; but I must go--and every word you say to dissuade
me only makes me more convinced. I am going to Civita to-morrow. I
shall be that much on the way. I cannot rest here."

Mrs. Forbes looked at her in grave silence. Ellinor could not bear the
consciousness of that fixed gaze. Yet its fixity only arose from Mrs.
Forbes' perplexity as to how best to assist Ellinor, whether to restrain
her by further advice--of which the first dose had proved so useless--or
to speed her departure. Ellinor broke on her meditations:

"You have always been so kind and good to me,--go on being so--please,
do! Leave me alone now, dear Mrs. Forbes, for I cannot b