on, that her mere
presence would dispel all the trouble that had wrecked a life.

She tried to think consecutively, to argue fairly, weighing the matter
judicially, noting all points, for and against, in the hope that by
this means her decision might be rendered more simple, but it was
impossible. Her thoughts would not be controlled, they wandered this
way and that. At one moment she felt certain that she could not
condemn a fellow-creature to distress if any action of hers could
prevent it, the next she was tortured by the simple question of right
and wrong: whether if she allowed Francis Heathcote to remain under his
misapprehension as to her identity, it was not much the same thing as
deliberate deception, a lie, in short? And yet, the truth was to him
nothing more nor less than his death sentence. Could she be the one to
push him back into the darkness from which she had all unwittingly
rescued him?

"A little happiness for all the years he has missed--a little happiness
until he dies." For a few hours, or perhaps weeks--who could tell?

Was it not an act of simple human charity she was called upon to
perform? Could it not be considered something similar to acting as an
understudy--continuing a role which had been left with some last lines
unsaid by the principal actor? Why need she hesitate to respond to the
urgent appeal for comfort and for help? "No brightness--only darkness,
until you came. Ah, dear love! the shadows when you do not come!
Phil! Dear love! At last!"

Small wonder that the dawn found her wide-eyed and unrested, and that
when the hour came for her to rise she was prostrated with nervous
headache and fatigue, utterly incapable of the slightest effort. And
so the next day passed. At noon there came a note from the doctor,
saying she need be under no anxiety. His patient was quiet and as well
as could be expected.

On the afternoon of the next day but one, the necessity of obtaining
fresh air and a strong desire to meet Isabella Vernon again drove her
out of doors. She was almost surprised to find how keen was her wish
to pursue the acquaintance so informally begun; she could not account
for it. It was certainly not at the moment any desire to gain
information about the past; that had entirely left her. She wished
rather to gain relief from the subject, to try if possible to lay it
aside for a time, and she had not the smallest intention of admitting a
stranger into the difficu