is due."

"If you felt less keenly the distressing circumstances surrounding you,
I should deeply regret my misplaced confidence in your character; and
certainly you must acquit me of the selfishness that could desire to
engross your attention at this juncture."

Desirous of relieving him of all apprehension relative to a possible
misconstruction of his motives and conduct, she left one hand in his,
and laid the other with a caressing touch on his arm; an unprecedented
demonstration, which at any other time would have surprised and charmed
him.

"Ah, what a melancholy sight! So much delicate refined beauty, in this
horrible lair of human beasts! Lennox, let us hope that the mercy of
God will call her speedily to His own bar of justice, before she
suffers the torture and degradation of trial, by earthly tribunals."

She felt the slight shudder that crept over him, the sudden start with
which he dropped her hand, and bent once more over the cot.

"God forbid she should die now, leaving the burden of her murder on my
soul!"

His countenance was averted, but the ferver of his adjuration filled
her with a vague sense of painful foreboding.

"Is it friendly to desire the preservation of a life, whose probable
goal seems the gallows, or perpetual imprisonment? Poor girl! In the
choice of awful alternatives, death would come here as an angel of
mercy."

Leo took Beryl's hand in hers, and tears filled her eyes as she noted
the symmetry of the snowy fingers, the delicate arch of the black
brows, the exceeding beauty of the waving outline where the rich
mahogany-hued hair touched the forehead and temples, that gleamed like
polished marble.

"Is it friendly to wish an innocent girl to go down into her grave,
leaving a name stained for all time by suspicion, if not absolute
conviction of a horrible crime?"

Mr. Dunbar spoke through set teeth, and Leo's astonishment at the
expression of his countenance, delayed an answer, which was prevented
by the entrance of Mrs. Singleton.

"Miss Gordon, your uncle wishes to know whether you are ready to go
home; as he has an engagement that calls him away?"

Did Leo imagine the look of relief that seemed to brighten Mr. Dunbar's
face, as he said promptly:

"With your permission, I will see you safely down stairs, and commit
you to Judge Dent's care."

Standing beside the cot, she watched Mrs. Singleton measure the
medicine from a vial into a small glass. When the warden's wife