he only woman in the world worth having
at your feet."

He went to the table, searched among the bottles till he found one that
still contained brandy, poured the contents into a glass and drank with
feverish eagerness.

"That'll put a little life in me," he muttered. "Well, there is nothing
for it but to wait. I must keep myself very quiet. I think I'll have
some breakfast--at any rate I can afford to leave this den."

He pulled out a pocket-book with a laugh, glanced at the contents and
put it away.

"Luck enough for a parlor and bed-room in the best uptown hotel for a
week or so," he muttered; "pah! how I loathe this hole!"

North threw off his dressing-gown, bathed his face in cold water,
arranged his dress a little, and went down stairs in search of his
morning meal.

Elizabeth Mellen hurried through the narrow street in which the hotel
stood, as if trying to walk herself into calmness. Once she murmured:

"Five days more--five! If I can live through them and keep the tempest
back I may be safe. If I can! Such a dread at my heart--worse as the
time shortens--oh heavens, if discovery should come now when the haven
is so near!"

CHAPTER XLVI.

THE PAWNBROKER'S SHOP.

Weeks had glided along. It was now late autumn; the gorgeous leaves lay
strewn along the ground, and the wind sighed up from the ocean chill and
bleak, scattering thoughts of decay with each gust. With that gathering
desolation, the coldness and the shadows had crept deeper and deeper
into Grantley Mellen's life.

He had accompanied Elizabeth to the city, one of these chilly autumn
days, and put her in a carriage at the ferry, that she might attend to
the purchases and calls which was her ostensible errand to town, while
he went about the business on hand, with an arrangement that they were
to meet in time for the afternoon boat.

Elsie had chosen to pass the day at home; indeed, the light-hearted girl
and Elizabeth were never together now when it could possibly be avoided.
Elsie seemed determined to keep aloof from the mystery of the unhappy
woman's life, lest its gloominess should cast some shadow over the
brightness of her own path.

While Elizabeth was absent on her mysterious visit, Mellen occupied
himself with a matter which would have added another trouble to the
anxiety of that bitter day, had she dreamed of it. From the first he had
determined that the disappearance of that gauntlet bracelet should be in
some way explai