e in this way.
I was willing to shift the load from my own back to the delicate
shoulders of this shrinking but ardent girl. Then reason returned, if
consideration halted, and I asked myself: "But is the help she offers of
any practical worth? Would her timid declarations, trembling as she was
between her awe of her parents and her desire to serve the man she loved,
weigh in the balance against the evidence accumulated by the district
attorney?"

It seemed doubtful. She would not be believed, and I should have to back
up her statement with my own hitherto suppressed testimony. It was a hard
case, any way I looked at it. A woman to be sacrificed whichever course I
took. Contemplating the tremulous, half-fainting figure drooping in the
shadows before me, such native chivalry as remained to me, urged me to
spare this little friend of mine, so ungifted by nature, so innocent in
intention, so sensitive and so shrinking in temperament and habit. Then
Carmel's image rose before me, glorious, impassioned, driven by the
fierce onrush of some mighty inherent force into violent deeds undreamed
of by most women; but when thus undriven, gentle in manner, elevated in
thought, refined as only a few rare characters are refined; and my heart
stood still again with doubt, and I could not say: "It is your duty to
save him at all hazards. Brave your father, brave your mother, brave
public opinion and possibly the wrecking of your whole future, but tell
the truth, and rid your days of doubt, your nights of remorse." I could
not say this. So many things might happen to save Arthur, to save Carmel,
to save the little woman before me. I would trust that future, temporise
a bit and give such advice as would relieve us both from immediate fear
without compromising Arthur's undoubted rights to justice.

Meanwhile, Ella Fulton had become distracted by new fears. The sound of
sleigh-bells could be heard on the hill. It might be her father. Should
she try to reach the house, or hide her small body, like a trapped
animal's, on the dark side of the hedge? I was conscious of her thoughts,
shared her uncertainties, notwithstanding the struggle then going on in
my own mind. But I remained quiet and so did she, and the sleigh
ultimately flew past us up the road. The sigh which broke from her lips
as this terror subsided, brought my disordered thoughts to a focus. I
must not keep her longer. Something must be said at once. As soon as she
looked my way aga