rough
fellow's good-natured taunt. "To make my point, it is absolutely
necessary for us to transfer ourselves into her position and view
matters as they gradually unfolded themselves before her eyes. First,
then, as I have before suggested, let us consider the interview held by
this man and woman in the woods. Miss Dare, as we must remember, was not
engaged to Mr. Mansell; she only loved him. Their engagement, to say
nothing of their marriage, depended upon his success in life--a success
which to them seemed to hang solely upon the decision of Mrs. Clemmens
concerning the small capital he desired her to advance him. But in the
interview which Mansell had held with his aunt previous to the meeting
between the lovers, Mrs. Clemmens had refused to loan him this money,
and Miss Dare, whose feelings we are endeavoring to follow, found
herself beset by the entreaties of a man who, having failed in his plans
for future fortune, feared the loss of her love as well. What was the
natural consequence? Rebellion against the widow's decision, of
course,--a rebellion which she showed by the violent gesture which she
made;--and then a determination to struggle for her happiness, as she
evinced when, with most unhappy ambiguity of expression, she begged him
to wait till the next day before pressing his ring upon her acceptance,
because, as she said:

"'A night has been known to change the whole current of a person's
affairs.'

"To her, engrossed with the one idea of making a personal effort to
alter Mrs. Clemmens' mind on the money question, these words seemed
innocent enough. But the look with which he received them, and the pause
that followed, undoubtedly impressed her, and prepared the way for the
interest she manifested when, upon looking through the telescope the
next day, she saw him flying in that extraordinary way from his aunt's
cottage toward the woods. Not that she then thought of his having
committed a crime. As I trace her mental experience, she did not come to
that conclusion till it was forced upon her. I do not know, and so
cannot say, how she first heard of the murder----"

"She was told of it on the street-corner," interpolated Mr. Ferris.

"Ah, well, then, fresh from this vision of her lover hasting from his
aunt's door to hide himself in the woods beyond, she came into town and
was greeted by the announcement that Mrs. Clemmens had just been
assaulted by a tramp in her own house. I know this was the way in whic