l, and she
softly approached the cot.

The rustle of her dress attracted his attention, and glancing up, he
saw his betrothed at his side. One might have counted ten, while they
silently regarded each other; and as if conscious of having unmasked
some disloyalty, scarcely yet acknowledged to himself, haughty defiance
hardened and darkened his face. Involuntarily his hold on Beryl's
fingers tightened.

"Prison wards are not proper fields for the cultivation and display of
Miss Gordon's amateur kid glove charity. I hope, at least, it was a
species of exaggerated high-flown sentimentality, rather than mere
feminine curiosity that tempted you to precincts revolting to the
delicacy and refinement with which my imagination invested you."

"My motives I shall not submit to the crucible of your criticism; and a
little reflection will probably suggest to you, that perhaps you are
unduly enlarging the limits, and prematurely exercising the rights of
anticipated censorship. There are blunders that trench closely upon the
borders of crime, and if professional zeal has betrayed you into the
commission of a great wrong upon an innocent woman, it is a sacred duty
to your victim, as well as my privilege as your betrothed, to alleviate
her suffering as much as possible, and to repair the injury for which
you are responsible. When human life and reputation are at stake,
hypercritical fastidiousness is less pardonable than the deplorable
mistake that endangers both."

"And if I have not blundered; and she be guilty?"

"Then your presence here, can only be explained by motives so malignant
and contemptible, that I blush to ascribe them to you."

"If I am morbidly sensitive about your line of conduct you should
understand and pardon my jealous espionage."

"If I, realizing that you are act infallible, entertain a nervous dread
that unintentionally you may have inflicted an irreparable wrong, you
at least should not feel offended, because I am sensitive as regards
reflections upon your honor as a gentleman, and your astuteness as a
lawyer."

Her fair face had flushed; his grew pale.

"Leo, is this to be our first quarrel?"

"If so, you are entitled to the role of protagonist."

He put out his left hand, and took hers, while his right was closely
clasping one that lay upon the chintz coverlid.

What strange obliquity of vision, what inscrutable perversity possessed
him, he asked himself, as he looked up at the slight elegant fi