er suffer from any
association with one whose name must henceforth
become the sport of the crowd, if not the
execration of the virtuous. If your generous heart
rebels at this, choke it relentlessly down. I
shall be already gone when you read these lines,
and nothing you could do or say would make me come
back. Good-by, and may Heaven grant you
forgetfulness of one whose only return to your
benefactions has been to make you suffer almost as
much as she suffers herself.

As Mr. Orcutt read these last lines, District Attorney Ferris was
unsealing the anonymous missive which has already been laid before my
readers.

XXI.

HEART'S MARTYRDOM.

Oh that a man might know
The end of this day's business, ere it come;
But it sufficeth that the day will end,
And then the end is known!--JULIUS CAESAR.

MR. FERRIS' first impulse upon dismissing the detectives had been to
carry the note he had received to Mr. Orcutt. But a night's careful
consideration of the subject convinced him that the wisest course would
be to follow the suggestions conveyed in the letter, and seek a direct
interview with Imogene Dare.

It was not an agreeable task for him to undertake. Miss Dare was a young
lady whom he had always held in the highest esteem. He had hoped to see
her the wife of his friend, and would have given much from his own
private stock of hope and happiness to have kept her name free from the
contumely which any association with this dreadful crime must
necessarily bring upon it. But his position as prosecuting attorney of
the county would not allow him to consult his feelings any further in a
case of such serious import. The condition of Mr. Hildreth was, to say
the least, such as demanded the most impartial action on the part of the
public officials, and if through any explanation of Miss Dare the one
missing link in the chain of evidence against another could be
supplied, it was certainly his duty to do all he could to insure it.

Accordingly at a favorable hour the next day, he made his appearance at
Mr. Orcutt's house, and learning that Miss Dare had gone to Professor
Darling's house for a few days, followed her to her new home and
requested an interview.

She at once responded to his call. Little did he think as she came into
the parlor where he sat, and with even more than her