at a dead body would
bleed if its murderer came in contact with it. What then would happen
here if I, his daughter, his cherished child, loaded with benefits,
enriched with his jewels, warm with his kisses, should be the thing they
accuse me of? Would not the body of the outraged dead burst its very
shroud and repel me?"

I could not answer; in the presence of some scenes the tongue forgets
its functions.

"Oh!" she went on, "if there is a God in heaven who loves justice and
hates a crime, let Him hear me now. If I, by thought or action, with
or without intention, have been the means of bringing this dear head to
this pass; if so much as the shadow of guilt, let alone the substance,
lies upon my heart and across these feeble woman's hands, may His wrath
speak in righteous retribution to the world, and here, upon the breast
of the dead, let this guilty forehead fall, never to rise again!"

An awed silence followed this invocation; then a long, long sigh of
utter relief rose tremulously from my breast, and all the feelings
hitherto suppressed in my heart burst their bonds, and leaning towards
her I took her hand in mine.

"You do not, cannot believe me tainted by crime now?" she whispered,
the smile which does not stir the lips, but rather emanates from the
countenance, like the flowering of an inner peace, breaking softly out
on cheek and brow.

"Crime!" The word broke uncontrollably from my lips; "crime!"

"No," she said calmly, "the man does not live who could accuse me of
crime, _here_."

For reply, I took her hand, which lay in mine, and placed it on the
breast of the dead.

Softly, slowly, gratefully, she bowed her head.

"Now let the struggle come!" she whispered. "There is one who will
believe in me, however dark appearances may be."

XIII. THE PROBLEM

"But who would force the soul, tilts with a straw
Against a champion cased in adamant."
Wordsworth.

WHEN we re-entered the parlor below, the first sight that met our eyes
was Mary, standing wrapped in her long cloak in the centre of the room.
She had arrived during our absence, and now awaited us with lifted head
and countenance fixed in its proudest expression. Looking in her face, I
realized what the embarrassment of this meeting must be to these
women, and would have retreated, but something in the attitude of Mary
Leavenworth seemed to forbid my doing so. At the same time, determined
that the opportunity should not pass