face she
whispered:

"Only that--I love you!--no," as he bent towards her, "don't kiss me!
I never knew--I never guessed."

"Never guessed that you loved me?" he asked, regarding her with a
quizzical smile. "Now, I guessed it all the time, even though you did
run away from me."

"No, no, it is not that!" and she moved away, out of the reach of his
caressing hands. "But I was there, by the window; I heard all that
story. I had heard it long ago, and I thought you were to blame. I
judged you--condemned you! Now I see how wrong I was--wrong in every
way--in every way. I have wronged you--_you_! Oh, how I have wronged
you!" she whispered, under her breath, as she remembered the men she
looked for, had sent for--the men who were to take him away a
prisoner!

"Nonsense, dear!" and he clasped her hands and smiled at her
reassuringly. "You are over-wrought by all the excitement here since
yesterday; you are nervous and remorseful over a trifle; you could not
wrong me in any way; if you did, I forgive you."

"No," she said, shaking her head and gazing at him with eyes more sad
than he had ever seen them; "no, you would not forgive me if you knew;
you never will forgive me when you do know. And--I must tell you--tell
you everything--tell you now--"

"No, not now, Judithe," he said, as he heard Masterson's voice in the
hall. "We can't be alone now. Later you shall tell me all your sins
against me." He was walking with her to the door and looking down at
her with all his heart in his eyes; his tenderness made her sorrows
all the more terrible, and as he bent to kiss her she shrunk from
him.

"No, not until I tell you all," she said again, then as his hands
touched hers she suddenly pressed them to her lips, her eyes, her
cheek; "and whatever you think of me then, when you do hear all, I
want you to know that I love you, I love you, I _love_ you!"

Then the door closed behind her and he was standing there with a
puzzled frown between his eyes when Masterson entered. Her intense
agitation, the passion in her words and her eyes!--He felt inclined to
follow and end the mystery of it at once, but Masterson's voice
stopped him.

"I've been trying all morning to have a talk, Colonel," he said,
carefully closing the door and glancing about. "There have been some
new developments in Monroe's case, in fact there have been so many
that I have put in the time while waiting for you, by writing down
every particle of new testimony