ill loves, in spite of all that has
happened to separate them.

"He was not proof against this new responsibility. As she fainted, he
leaped from the box; and, could I have heard the words he muttered in her
ear, I am sure that I should have that to give you which would settle
this matter for all time. As it is, I can only say that my own
convictions are absolute; the rest remains with you."

"We will go see the man," said District Attorney Fox.

XXXVI

THE SURCHARGED MOMENT

For Justice, when triumphant, will weep down
Pity, not punishment, on her own wrongs,
Too much avenged by those who err. I wait,
Enduring thus, the retributive hour
Which since we spake is even nearer now.

_Prometheus Unbound_.

The moment I felt Sweetwater's hand lifted from my shoulder I sprang into
the first hack I could find, and bade the driver follow the Cumberland
sleigh post-haste. I was determined to see Carmel and have Carmel see me.
Whatever cold judgment might say against the meeting, I could not live in
my present anxiety. If the thunderbolt which had struck her had spared
her life and reason she must know from my own lips that I was not only a
free man, but as innocent of the awful charge conveyed in Sweetwater's
action as was the brother, who had just been acquitted of it by the
verdict of his peers.

I must declare this, and she must believe me. Nothing else
mattered--nothing else in all the world. That Arthur might stop me, that
anything could stop me, did not disturb my mind for a minute. All that I
dreaded was that I might find myself too late; that this second blow
might have proved to be too much for her, and that I should find my
darling dead or passed from me into that living death which were the
harder punishment of the two. But I was spared this killing grief. When
our two conveyances stopped, it was in the driveway of her old home; and
as I bounded upon the walk, it was to see her again in Arthur's arms, but
this time with open eyes and horror-drawn features.

"Carmel!" rushed in a cry from my lips. "Don't believe what they say. I
cannot bear it--I cannot bear it!"

She roused; she looked my way, and struggling to her feet, held back
Arthur with one hand while she searched my face--and possibly searched
her own soul--for answer to my plea. Never was moment more surcharged.
Further word I could not speak; I could only meet her eyes with the
steady, demanding look of a despairing heart, while Arthur mo