few steps muttering ironically to himself:

"Ah, Orcutt! Orcutt!"

Breathlessly she watched him, breathlessly she followed him step by step
like some white and haunting spirit.

"You believe, then, this fact will cost him his life?" came from her
lips at last.

"Don't ask me that, Miss Dare. You and I have no concern with the
consequences of this evidence."

"No concern?" she repeated, wildly. "You and I no concern? Ah!" she went
on, with heart-piercing sarcasm, "I forgot that the sentiments of the
heart have no place in judicial investigation. A criminal is but lawful
prey, and it is every good citizen's duty to push him to his doom. No
matter if one is bound to that criminal by the dearest ties which can
unite two hearts; no matter if the trust he has bestowed upon you has
been absolute and unquestioning, the law does not busy itself with that.
The law says if you have a word at your command which can destroy this
man, give utterance to it; and the law must be obeyed."

"But, Miss Dare----" the District Attorney hastily intervened, startled
by the feverish gleam of her hitherto calm eye.

But she was not to be stopped, now that her misery had at last found
words.

"You do not understand my position, perhaps," she continued. "You do not
see that it has been my hand, and mine only, which, from the first, has
slowly, remorselessly pushed this man back from the point of safety,
till now, now, I am called upon to drag from his hand the one poor
bending twig to which he clings, and upon which he relies to support him
above the terrible gulf that yawns at his feet. You do not see----"

"Pardon me," interposed Mr. Ferris again, anxious, if possible, to
restore her to herself. "I see enough to pity you profoundly. But you
must allow me to remark that your hand is not the only one which has
been instrumental in hurrying this young man to his doom. The
detectives----"

"Sir," she interrupted in her turn, "can you, dare you say, that without
my testimony he would have stood at any time in a really critical
position?--or that he would stand in jeopardy of his life even now, if
it were not for this fact I have to tell?"

Mr. Ferris was silent.

"Oh, I knew it, I knew it!" she cried. "There will be no doubt
concerning whose testimony it was that convicted him, if he is sentenced
by the court for this crime. Ah, ah, what an enviable position is mine!
What an honorable deed I am called upon to perform! To tell the truth