e felt a cold hand grip his wrist.

'Oh, Captain Burnett, do say that you did not believe him!'

Michael was silent.

'It was too utterly horrible, too improbable altogether!' she continued
with a shudder; 'no man calling himself a gentleman ought to believe
such an accusation against a woman.'

Still silence.

'If it should reach my boy's ear, he will be ready to kill him.'

'Mrs. Blake, will you listen to me a moment, for your children's sake. I
desire to stand your friend.'

'And not for my sake--not for the sake of a lonely, misjudged woman?'

'No,' he returned coldly; 'I will confess the truth: it is the best. In
our hearts we are not friends, you and I. From the first I have
mistrusted you. I have always felt there was something I could not
understand. Friends do not have these feelings; but, all the same, I
wish to help you.'

'Oh, that is kind; and now I do not mind your hard words.'

'But I must help you in my own way. To-morrow I shall come to you, and
you must tell me the whole truth, and whether this man Matthew O'Brien
be your husband or not.'

'I tell you--' she began excitedly, but he checked her very gently.

'Hush! Do not speak now; you will make yourself ill again.'

'Oh yes,' she said, falling back on her seat. 'I have palpitations
still. I must not excite myself.'

'Just so; and to-morrow you will be calmer and more collected, and you
will have made up your mind that the truth will be best because----' he
paused, as though not certain how to proceed.

'Because of what?' she asked sharply; and he could detect strained
anxiety in her tone.

'Because it will be better for you to tell your story in your own way,
far better than for me to hear it from Mr. O'Brien.'

'You would go to him?' and there was unmistakable alarm in her voice.

'Most certainly I would go to him. This is a very important matter to
others as well as yourself, Mrs. Blake.'

'I will kill myself,' she said wildly, 'before I tell any such story!
You have no heart, Captain Burnett; you are treating me with refined
cruelty; you want to bring me to shame because you hate me, and
because----'

But again he checked her:

'Do not exhaust yourself with making all these speeches; you will need
all your strength. I will come to you to-morrow evening, and if you will
tell me the truth I will promise to help you as far as possible. Surely
at such a crisis you will not refuse such help as I may be able to offer
you, if on