d I am sorry now."

"It is all past," said Wyvis softly. "It does not matter now."

"You forgive me for my part in it? You do not hate me?"

"Mother! Have I been cold to you then? I have loved you all the time,
and never blamed you in my heart."

"You said that I was to blame."

"But I did not mean it. I never thought that you would take an idle word
of mine so seriously, mother. Forgive me, and believe me that I would
not have given you pain for the world if I had thought, if I had only
thought that it would hurt you so much!"

His mother smiled faintly, and closed her eyes for a moment, as if the
exertion of speaking had been too much for her; but, after a short
pause, she started suddenly, and opened her eyes with a look of extreme
terror.

"What is it," she said. "What have I done? Where is she?"

"Who, mother?"

"Your wife, Juliet. What did I do? Is she dead? The fire--the fire----"

Wyvis looked helplessly round for Janetta. He could not answer: he did
not know how to calm his mother's rapidly increasing excitement. Janetta
came forward and bent over the pillow.

"No, Juliet is not dead. She is in her room; you must not trouble
yourself about her," she said.

Mrs. Brand's eyes were fixed apprehensively on Janetta's face.

"Tell me what I did," she said in a loud whisper.

It was difficult to answer. Wyvis hid his face in a sort of desperation.
He wondered what Janetta was going to say, and listened in amazement to
her first words.

"You were ill," said Janetta clearly. "You did not know what you were
doing, and you set fire to the curtains in her room. Nobody was hurt,
and we all understand that you would have been very sorry to harm
anybody. It is all right, dear grandmother, and you must remember that
you were not responsible for what you were doing then."

The boldness of her answer filed Wyvis with admiration. He knew that
he--manlike--would have temporized and tried in vain to deny the truth,
it was far wiser for Janetta to acknowledge and explain the facts. Mrs.
Brand pressed the girl's hand and looked fearfully in her face.

"She--she was not burned?"

"Not at all."

"Stoop down," said Mrs. Brand. "Lower. Close to my face. There--listen
to me. I meant to kill her. Do you understand? I meant to set the place
on fire and let her burn. I thought she deserved it for making my boy
miserable."

Wyvis started up, and turned his back to the bed. It was impossible for
him to hear the confes