th so lovely and
refined a woman. Lennox?"

He turned, and looked into her brown eyes, which were misty with tears.

"Well, my dear Leo, what is burdening your generous heart?"

"Do you, can you, believe her guilty? Her whole appearance is a
powerful protest."

"Appearances are sometimes fatally false. I think you told me, that the
purest and loveliest face, guileless as an angel's, that you saw in
Europe, was a portrait of Vittoria Accoramboni; yet she was veritably
the 'White Devil', 'beautiful as the leprosy, dazzling as the
lightning'. Do I believe her guilty? From any other lips than yours, I
should evade the question; but I proudly acknowledge your right to an
expression of my opinion, when--"

"I withdraw the question, because I arrogate no 'rights'. I merely
desire the privilege of sympathizing, if possible, with your views; of
sharing your anxiety in a matter involving such vital consequences.
Privilege is the gift of affection; right, the stern allotment of law.
Tell me nothing now; I shall value much more the privilege of receiving
your confidence unsolicited."

He took both her hands, drew her close to him, and looked steadily down
into her frank tender eyes.

"Thank you, my dear Leo. Only your own noble self could so delicately
seek to relieve me from a painful embarrassment; but our relations
invest you with both rights and privileges, which for my sake at least,
I prefer you should exercise. You must allow me to conclude my
sentence; you are entitled to my opinion--when matured. As far as I am
capable of judging, the evidence against her is--overwhelmingly
condemnatory. I thought so before her arrest; believed it when her
preliminary examination ended, and subsequent incidents strengthen and
confirm that opinion; yet a theory has dawned upon me, that may
possibly lighten her culpability. I need not tell you, that I feel
acutely the responsibility of having brought her here for trial, and
especially of her present pitiable condition, which causes me sleepless
nights. If she should live, I shall make some investigation in a
distant quarter, which may to some extent exculpate her, by proving her
an accessory instead of principal. My--generous Leo, you shall be the
first to whom I confide my solution--when attained. I am sorely
puzzled, and harassed by conflicting conjectures; and you must be
patient with me, if I appear negligent or indifferent to the privileges
of that lovely shrine where my homage