e strength, for I clenched my hands nervously, and
began to tell her of our meeting and of the darkest deed that ever
blighted my life, wondering in my heart what she would say and do when
she knew what I had done.

CHAPTER XXIV

CAIN

And now art thou cursed from the earth, which hath opened her mouth to
receive thy brother's blood from thy hand. . . . A fugitive and a
vagabond shalt thou be in the earth.

And Cain said to the Lord, My punishment is greater than I can
bear.--_The Book of Genesis._

At last, I had told her. The dread truth which I had trembled for her
to know was made known. Word by word, sentence by sentence, often
hesitating, often stammering, I related our meeting, the awful struggle
on the cliff with its terrible ending.

Then I felt her tremble.

"And Wilfred is dead?" she gasped.

"Dead," I repeated.

"And you killed him?"

"I--I killed him."

"Then you are a--a----"

"Yes, I am. My God, I am a murderer!"

I felt her shrink from me, I saw the blood recede from her face, and in
another second she lay motionless in my arms.

I laid her gently down in an old settle, and ran into the hall shouting
for help. The two women servants who had attended upon lier quickly
appeared.

"Your mistress!" I gasped. "Make haste."

They hurried to the room and found Ruth lying as one dead.

I could not stay there while they tried to restore her. I felt I had
killed her, and my head whirled so that I could scarcely stand. Until
then I did not know what a man could bear and still live. No tongue or
pen can describe what I suffered. I had been in hell the night before;
it was worse now. Then only the death of the man whom I had hated
pressed on my conscience, now, I feared, I had by the same deed killed
my darling, whom only a few hours before, I had taken from a living
grave.

Presently I heard the sound of horses' hoofs on the gravel outside the
house, and in another minute the village doctor entered. Unknown to
me, Mr. Inch had sent for him, thinking Ruth might need his advice.
Evidently, too, the servant who had been to fetch him had told him of
the strange event that had happened, for when he saw me he exclaimed:

"Great heavens, you did it, did you? Well, its the most wonderful
thing that ever happened."

I think he would have stayed a few minutes with me had I allowed him,
but I hurried him quickly to the room where Ruth was, while I stayed at
the door and listene