rected, and the
man intends to repeat his story, and that, too, in the very ears of him
upon whose favor Bertram depends for his life's happiness and the
winning of the woman he adores. I adore you, Paula, but I cannot clasp
you to my heart across another sin. If the detectives whom we shall call
in to-morrow, cannot exonerate those connected with the bank from the
theft lately committed there--and the fact that you have been allowed to
read this letter, prove they have not--I must do what I can to relieve
Bertram from his painful position, by taking upon myself the onus of
that past transgression which of right belongs to my account; and this
once done, let the result be for good or ill, any bond between you and
me is cut loose forever. I have not learned to love at this late hour,
to wrong the precious thing I cherish. Death as it is to me to say
good-bye to the one last gleam of heavenly light that has shot across my
darkened way, it must be done, dear heart, if only to hold myself worthy
of the tender and generous love you have designed to bestow upon me.
Bertram, who is all generosity, may guess but does not know, what I am
about to do. Go down to him, dear; tell him that at this very moment,
perhaps, I am clearing his name before the wretch who has so ruthlessly
fastened his fang upon him; that his love and Cicely's shall prosper, as
he has been loyal, and she trusting, all these years of effort and
probation; that I give him my blessing, and that if we do not meet
again, I delegate to him the trust of which I so poorly acquitted
myself. But before you go, stop a moment and in this room, which has
always symbolized to my eyes the poverty which was my rightful due,
kneel and pray for my soul; for if God grants me the wish of my heart,
he will strike me with sudden death after I have taken upon myself the
disgrace of my past offences. Life without love can be borne, but life
without honor never. To come and go amongst my fellow-men with a shadow
on the fame they have always believed spotless! Do not ask me to attempt
it! Pray for my soul, but pray too, that I may perish in some quick and
sudden way before ever your dear eyes rest upon my face again.

"And now, as though this were to be the end, let me take my last
farewell of you. I have loved you, Paula, loved you with my heart, my
mind and my soul. You have been my angel of inspiration and the source
of all my comfort. I kneel before you in gratitude, and I stand a