upon him. At
another time he must have shuddered beneath the sharp wind that filled
his hair and clothes with frost. But now, the fever in his blood burned
too hotly not to feel the biting cold as a relief.

He leaned against a pillar of the balcony, shocked to the soul, and yet
so indignant that the frozen particles that filled the air, flashed
athwart his eyes like sparks of fire. The hand with which he strove to
force back the painful rush of thought from his forehead, fell upon it
like ice, but in a moment that too was burning. He tore off his cravat,
and in vain exposed his bosom to the frost. He gathered handfuls of snow
from where it had lodged in ridges on the stone balustrade, and pressed
them to his forehead, hoping thus to slake the fever of his wild
thoughts. A little time, and this fierce struggle must have killed him;
for, not to have found some means of saving Mabel Harrington from the
dangers that encompassed her, would have been a thousand deaths to him.
Oh! how his bad angel toiled and struggled to fix that divorce upon his
mind, as the best and only means of saving her. But the heart that
swelled so tumultuously in his bosom, was honest and unselfish. He took
hold of the temptation, firmly wrestled with, and hurled it aside,
facing the right with heroic courage.

At last, his restless footsteps ceased; some new idea contracted his
features, sweeping all the fire away. Slowly and steadily, like the
beams of a star, thought followed thought, till his face grew luminous
with generous resolution. The red fever had burned itself out on his
forehead, leaving it pale and calm, while across his lips stole an
expression so much more beautiful than a smile, that I cannot impress it
upon the reader.

CHAPTER LXIV.

THE LIFE DEED.

James Harrington turned from the balcony, and entered the open window,
composed and firm, but paler than before he went out.

General Harrington looked sharply up as James came forward, but did not
speak; there was a force and dignity in his aspect that filled even that
worldly old man with respect, amounting almost to awe. They sat down
face to face; James leaning heavily against the table, General
Harrington retreating far back in his chair, to avoid the firm glance of
those eyes.

"There is another way of settling this matter," he said, plunging at
once into the depths of the subject. "I have wealth which you desire. To
obtain it you will sell your revenge on a hel