e not, uncle: I rave no longer. I am now calm--calm as it is
possible for me to be, having such a sorrow as mine struggling at my
heart. Why should I hide it from you? It will not be hidden. I love
him--love him as woman never loved man before--with a soul and spirit
all unreservedly his, and with no thought in which he is not always the
principal. I know that he loves another; I know that the passion which I
feel I must feel and cherish alone; that it must burn itself away,
though it burn away its dwelling-place. I am resigned to such a fate;
but I am not prepared for more. I can not bear that he too should
die--and such a death! He must not die--he must not die, my uncle;
though we save him--ay, save him--for another."

"Shame on you, my daughter!--how can you confess so much? Think on your
sex--you are a woman--think on your youth!" Such was the somewhat
strongly-worded rebuke of the old lady.

"I have thought on all--on everything. I feel all that you have said,
and the thought and the feeling have been my madness. I must speak, or I
shall again go mad. I am not the tame and cold creature that the world
calls woman. I have been differently made. I can love in the world's
despite. I can feel through the world's freeze. I can dare all, when my
soul is in it, though the world sneer in scorn and contempt. But what I
have said, is said to _you_. I would not--no, not for worlds, that he
should know I said it--not for worlds!" and her cheeks were tinged
slightly, while her head rested for a single instant upon the pillow.

"But all this is nothing!" she started up, and again addressed herself
to the landlord. "Speak, uncle! tell me, is there yet time--yet time to
save him I When is it they say he must die?"

"On Friday next, at noon."

"And this--?"

"Is Monday."

"He must not die--no, not die, then, my uncle! _You_ must save him--you
_must_ save him! You have been the cause of his doom: you must preserve
him from its execution. You owe it him as a debt--you owe it me--you owe
it to yourself. Believe not, my uncle, that there is no other day than
this--no other world--no other penalties than belong to this. You read
no bible, but you have a thought which must tell you that there are
worlds--there is a life yet to come. I know you can not doubt--you must
not doubt--you must believe. Have a fear of its punishments, have a hope
of its rewards, and listen to my prayer. You must save Ralph Colleton;
ask me not how--talk