they can
stand together without being seen by any one passing along the avenue.

There is something awful in the silence that broods round them; but the
girl's nerves are too much shaken for her to be quite conscious of her
surroundings. The man standing beside her is no less agitated.

"Honor, you know that, in acting as I did, I brought suffering upon
myself--horrible suffering--apart from all social considerations! You
have never doubted my love? You are true to me still; and I'm thankful
for it. I would rather see you dead at my feet than know you were false
to your solemn promise!"

The passionate voice, speaking so close to her ear that she can feel
his hot breath on her cheek, the pale eager face peering into hers, as
if to read its secret even in the darkness, strikes a sudden chill
through the girl. For the first time personal fear--fear of the man
before her--assails her.

"Have you no word for me?" the man pleads wistfully. "You stand there
like a spirit, and say no word of comfort or of pity! By heavens, if I
did not know all that you dared for my sake, I should swear that you
had no love in your heart for me!"

"Love for you!" she cries at last, speaking on the impulse of the
moment, as it is in her nature to speak. "Why should I love you? What
love had you for me when you shot my father--when----"

But he steps her almost savagely.

"I fired only one shot that night; but-- [lack in the text] ses on my
false aim!--that missed the man I hated."

"And that man was Brian Beresford?"

"Yes," he answers slowly, defiantly, even, "it was Brian Beresford. It
is no fault of mine he is alive to-night."

"And you would have killed him?" she cries, drawing back from him.

"Why not? He would have sent me to Kilmainham."

He is changed already--the girl divines this instinctively, and shrinks
still farther away from him against the damp wall. This life that he
has led--separated from friends and equals--has done its work.

"And now, Honor, we have no time to lose. Everything is ready for me to
get away to-night, but"--with a sudden break in the passionate
voice--"oh, my love, I cannot go without you!"

"You cannot go without me, Power?" the girl gasps. In her wildest
dreams no such fancy as this had risen to trouble her. "But you must go
without me! I cannot go with you!"

"And why not, if you love me?"

"But I do not love you," the girl says calmly. "I am very sorry for
you; but all love is done wit