. Base wretch, would you shake her off! Look
up; the midnight heaven is glittering with stars; above the smoke
the air breathes delicately! One step--another! Fix your eyes on
mine--so--to my heart! Alas! she turns; he catches at her dress. What!
It is a priest--a priest--who, smiling with infernal joy, would drag
her to the flaming gulf that yawns for him. The dreamer leaps at the
wretch's throat, and crying, "Villain, was it for this fate I saved
her?"--and awakes to find himself struggling with the monster of his
dream, the idol of his waking senses--"Mr. North."

North, paralysed no less by the suddenness of the attack than by the
words with which it was accompanied, let fall his cloak, and stood
trembling before the prophetic accusation of the man whose curses he had
come to earn.

"I was dreaming," said Rufus Dawes. "A terrible dream! But it has passed
now. The message--you have brought me a message, have you not? Why--what
ails you? You are pale--your knees tremble. Did my violence----?"

North recovered himself with a great effort. "It is nothing. Let us
talk, for my time is short. You have thought me a good man--one blessed
of God, one consecrated to a holy service; a man honest, pure, and
truthful. I have returned to tell you the truth. I am none of these
things." Rufus Dawes sat staring, unable to comprehend this madness.
"I told you that the woman you loved--for you do love her--sent you a
message of forgiveness. I lied."

"What!"

"I never told her of your confession. I never mentioned your name to
her."

"And she will go without knowing--Oh, Mr. North, what have you done?"

"Wrecked my own soul!" cried North, wildly, stung by the reproachful
agony of the tone. "Do not cling to me. My task is done. You will hate
me now. That is my wish--I merit it. Let me go, I say. I shall be too
late."

"Too late! For what?" He looked at the cloak--through the open window
came the voices of the men in the boat--the memory of the rose, of the
scene in the prison, flashed across him, and he understood it all.

"Great Heaven, you go together!"

"Let me go," repeated North, in a hoarse voice.

Rufus Dawes stepped between him and the door. "No, madman, I will not
let you go, to do this great wrong, to kill this innocent young soul,
who--God help her--loves you!" North, confounded at this sudden reversal
of their position towards each other, crouched bewildered against the
wall. "I say you shall not go! You s