one I fancy my own; my very touch, scorned; my motives
misconstrued--all, perhaps, by--a doubt yet hangs between us--an
abandoned stranger. Duty to my conscience has driven me to acts that
have betrayed me to society. I cannot shake my guilt from me even for a
day; and now society coldly cancels all my claims to its attentions. If
I could believe her dead; if I but knew this girl was not the object of
all my heart's unrest, then the wearying doubt would be buried, and my
heart might find peace in some remote corner of the earth. Well,
well--perhaps I am wasting all this torture on an unworthy object. I
should have thought of this sooner, for now foul slander is upon every
tongue, and my misery is made thrice painful by my old flatterers. I
will make one more effort, then if I fail of getting a certain clue to
her, I will remove to some foreign country, shake off these haunting
dreams, and be no longer a victim to my own thoughts." Somewhat
relieved, Madame is roused from her reverie by a gentle tap at the door.
"I have waited your coming, and am glad to see you," she says, extending
her hand, as a servant, in response to her command, ushers into her
presence no less a person than Tom Swiggs. "I have sent for you," she
resumes, motioning him gracefully to a chair, in which she begs he will
be seated, "because I feel I can confide in you--"

"Anything in my power is at your service, Madame," modestly interposes
Tom, regaining confidence.

"I entrusted something of much importance to me, to Mr. Snivel--"

"We call him the Hon. Mr. Snivel now, since he has got to be a great
politician," interrupts Tom.

"And he not only betrayed my Confidence," pursues Madame Montford, "but
retains the amount I paid him, and forgets to render the promised
service. You, I am told, can render me a service--"

"As for Mr. Snivel," pursues Tom, hastily, "he has of late had his hands
full, getting a poor but good-natured fellow, by the name of George
Mullholland, into trouble. His friend, Judge Sleepyhorn, and he, have
for some time had a plot on hand to crush this poor fellow. A few nights
ago Snivel drove him mad at a gambling den, and in his desperation he
robbed a man of his pocket-book. He shared the money with a poor woman
he rescued at the den, and that is the way it was discovered that he was
the criminal. He is a poor, thoughtless man, and he has been goaded on
from one thing to another, until he was driven to commit this act.
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