can vindicate herself, I earnestly hope she may
never recover her consciousness."

The unmistakable sincerity of his tone surprised the little woman, and
scanning him keenly as he stood, hat in hand, at the foot of the cot,
her heart relented toward him.

"You still consider her guilty?"

"Since my last interview with her, I have arrived at no conclusion.
Whether she be innocent or guilty, is known only by her, and her God.
All human judgments in such cases are but guesses at the truth. Is she
entirely unconscious, or has she lucid intervals?"

"Mr. Dunbar, on your honor as a gentleman, answer me. Are you here
hunting evidence on a death-bed? Would you be so diabolical as to use
against her any utterances of delirium?" The flash of his eyes
reminded her of the peculiar blue flame that leaps from a glowing bed
of anthracite coal; and she had her reply before his lips moved.

"Am I a butcher, madam? Your insinuations are so insulting to my
manhood, that it is difficult for me to remember my interrogator is a
lady; doubly difficult for me to show you the courtesy your sex
demands. Sooner than betray the secrets of a sick room, or violate the
sanctity of the confidence which that poor girl's condition enjoins, I
would cut off my right arm."

"I intend no discourtesy, sir; but my feelings are so deeply enlisted,
that I cannot stop to choose and pick phrases, in talking to the person
who caused that child to be shut up here. She thinks you are the most
vindictive and dangerous enemy she has; and I had no reason to
contradict her. Don't be offended, Mr. Dunbar."

He deigned no answer, but the dilation of his thin nostrils, and the
stern contraction of his handsome lips, attested his wrath. Mrs.
Singleton rose and laid her fingers on his coat sleeve.

"If I felt sure I could trust you--"

"I decline your confidence. Madam, if I could only tell you, that your
vile suspicions are too contemptible to merit the indignation they
arouse, I should to some extent feel relieved."

"Then having said it, I will let you off without an apology; and wipe
the slate, and start fresh. You are sensitive about your honor, and I
am determined to find out just how much it is worth. Trusting you as an
honorable gentleman, I am going to ask you to do something for me,
which may be of service to my patient; and I ask it, because I have
unlimited faith in your skill. Find out who 'Ricordo' is."

"Why? I must thoroughly understand the impo