"Please don't!" And I felt that my words had

touched her; that there were regret and repentance in

her tone and in the gesture with which she turned from

me.

She hurried down the passage swinging the lantern

at her side, and I followed, so mystified, so angered by

her composure, that I scarcely knew what I did. She

even turned, with pretty courtesy, to hold the light for

me at the crypt steps,-a service that I accepted perforce

and with joyless acquiescence in the irony of it.

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I knew that I did not believe in her; her conduct as to

Pickering was utterly indefensible,-I could not forget

that; but the light of her eyes, her tranquil brow, the

sensitive lips, whose mockery stung and pleased in a

breath,-by such testimony my doubts were alternately

reinforced and disarmed. Swept by these changing

moods I followed her out into the crypt.

"You seem to know a good deal about this place, and

I suppose I can't object to your familiarizing yourself

with your own property. And the notes-I'll give myself

the pleasure of handing them to you to-morrow.

You can cancel them and give them to Mr. Pickering,-

a pretty pledge between you!"

I thrust my hands into my pockets to give an impression

of ease I did not feel.

"Yes," she remarked in a practical tone, "three hundred

and twenty thousand dollars is no mean sum of

money. Mr. Pickering will undoubtedly be delighted

to have his debts canceled-"

"In exchange for a life of devotion," I sneered. "So

you knew the sum-the exact amount of these notes.

He hasn't served you well; he should have told you that

we found them to-day."

"You are not nice, are you, Squire Glenarm, when you

are cross?"

She was like Olivia now. I felt the utter futility of

attempting to reason with a woman who could become

a child at will. She walked up the steps and out into

the church vestibule. Then before the outer door she

spoke with decision.

"We part here, if you please! And-I have not the

slightest intention of trying to explain my errand into

that passage. You have jumped to your own conclusion,

which will have to serve you. I advise you not

to think very much about it,-to the exclusion of more

important business,-Squire Glenarm!"

She lifted the lantern to turn out its light, and it

made a glory of her face, but she paused and held it

toward me.

"Pardon me! You will need this to light you home."

"But you must not cross the park alone!"

"Good night! Please be sure to close the door to the

passage when you go down. You are a dreadfully heedless

person, Squire Glenarm."

She flung open the outer chapel-door, and ran along

the path toward St. Agatha's. I watched her in the

starlight until a bend in the path hid her swift-moving

figure.




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