at I baffled him. It could not be helped. I did not dare to
utter the question with which my whole soul was full. I could only look
my entreaty. He misunderstood it, as was natural enough.

"She does not know yet what is in store for her," were his words;
and I could only lie still, and look at him helplessly, and try not
to show the despair that was sinking me deeper and deeper into
semi-unconsciousness. "When she comes to herself, she will have to be
told; but you will be on your feet, then, and will be allowed, no doubt,
to soften the blow for her by your comfort and counsel. The fact that
it must have been you, if not he--"

"_He!"_ Did I shout it, or was the shout simply in my own mind? I
trembled as I rose on my elbow. I searched his face in terror of my
self-betrayal; but his showed only compassion and an eager desire to
clear the air between us by telling me the exact facts.

"Yes--Arthur. His guilt has not been proven; he has not even been
remanded; the sister's case is too pitiful and Coroner Perry too
soft-hearted, where any of that family is involved. But no one doubts his
guilt, and he does not deny it himself. You know--probably no one
better--that he cannot very consistently do this, in face of the evidence
accumulated against him, evidence stronger in many regards, than that
accumulated against yourself. The ungrateful boy! The--the--Pardon me, I
don't often indulge in invectives against unhappy men who have their
punishment before them, but I was thinking of you and what you have
suffered in this jail, where you have not belonged--no, not for a day."

"Don't think of me." The words came with a gasp. I was never so hard put
to it--not when I first realised that I had been seen with my fingers on
Adelaide's throat. Arthur! A booby and a boor, but certainly not the
slayer of his sister, unless I had been woefully mistaken in all that had
taken place in that club-house previous to my entrance into it on that
fatal night. As I caught Clifton's eye fixed upon me, I repeated--though
with more self-control, I hope: "Don't think of me. I'm not thinking of
myself. You speak of evidence. What evidence? Give me details. Don't you
see that I am burning with curiosity? I shan't be myself till I hear."

This alarmed him.

"It's a risk," said he. "The doctor told me to be careful not to excite
you too much. But suspense is always more intolerable than certainty, and
you have heard too much to be left in ignoranc