will send for some officer of justice."

She caught his arm and held him firmly.

"For Elsie's sake--don't overshadow her life with the shame you hurl on
me. Let me go away--you shall never hear of me again--I will never cross
your path! I do not ask for mercy, but for your sister's sake, for your
own honored name, let me go away and die."

CHAPTER LXIV.

BURIED OUT OF SIGHT.

Lost and guilty as this woman was, there existed still one human virtue
in her soul--even in his rage Mellen could feel that she spoke the
truth--she was not asking mercy for herself--she was pleading for the
innocent girl whose future would be destroyed were it known how vile the
creature was with whom she had been the associate.

"Where will you go--what will you do?"

"Anything--anything! You shall never hear from me again."

"You are going with this man!"

"There is no life so horrible that I would not prefer it to his
presence," she said; "no death so shameful that it would not be heaven
compared to seeing his face again."

There was a brief pause then; Mellen grasped her by the arm.

She thought he was about to kill her. She sank on her knees and a broken
prayer rose to her lips. She would not have struggled; she would have
knelt there and received death patiently from his hands.

"Do you think me lost and vile as yourself?" he cried, reading her
thoughts in this gesture. "I do not want your life--do with it what you
will! For my innocent sister's sake I will spare you--but go--go where I
never can hear your name--let me have no reason to know that you exist!
If you cross my path again, nothing shall keep me from exposing you to
the whole world."

All at once, North came out from the shadows that had concealed his
face, and stood before the man he had so foully wronged.

"Grantley Mellen," he said, "for your own sake, believe me. If this
woman will not speak, I am not coward enough to keep silent."

Elizabeth stepped forward, her head raised, her eyes flashing.

"But I charge you--North or Ford, I charge you, make no defence for me.
At your hand, neither he or I, will accept it. There has been no murder,
there must be none. If this most wronged man grants us the mercy of
silence, it is enough."

"But I am not brute enough to----"

"Peace," said Elizabeth; "if you would serve me, obey him."

"Obey him," answered North, with a sneer. "I would do almost anything.
Yes, and I will do even that; but you are the only