at I made myself
the victim instead of her!"

"H--ll and furies!"

"Even, am I not?"

"May the devil take you!"

"Better take care of the old fellow yourself; and of woman's wit, too!"

"I'll have my revenge yet. I'll swear that I did stay the night with Ellen,
despite your treachery."

"It will do you no good. My sister gave the young lady an attested
certificate, stating that she passed the whole time with her, the two
together, that the door to their room was locked, and that they were
undisturbed during the night.--Nothing like a 'woman's wit!'"

[Illustration: "And drawing a pistol, which some freak had caused her to
conceal in her dress, she made it ready, and, with her finger on the
trigger, aimed it at his heart."--See page 29.]

"I curse you! Vile, treacherous--"

"Spare your epithets, inhuman monster! or, by the heavens above us, you
leave not this spot alive!"

And drawing a pistol, which some freak had caused her to conceal in her
dress, she made it ready, and, with her finger on the trigger, aimed it at
his heart. Like all villains of his caste, he was a coward, and trembled
with quaking fear before the flashing eye and resolute look of the excited
girl.

"Now, vile, degraded, polluted _thing_! you go from my presence never to
return. Hold! not just yet, I have a parting word to say before you leave.
I confess, with self-abasement, that I once loved you, and with deep
humiliation, amounting to agony, that that love was the cause of my ruin.
The vail is now torn from my eyes, and I behold you as you are, a
corrupted, debased, unfeeling demon, in the human form; and I would not
even touch you with my finger's end, so deep is my detestation and
abhorrence of your depravity! Aye, sir, even for _me_ your very touch is
defiling! But if ever you whisper a word concerning the relation you once
sustained toward _me_, be it but so loud as your breath, I will as surely
destroy you as I now stand before you! Remember and beware! for I call God,
and angels, and earth to witness this my vow! One so lost as _you_, shall
not couple _my_ name with his!"

She paused a moment, as if to collect her energies for a last effort, and
then continued:

"Into the darkness of this moonless, starless, sky-beclouded night, you
shall soon be driven. May it faintly prefigure the unending blackness of
that eternal night you have chosen as your future portion. As you have
willfully, voluntarily, and most wickedly called it