,
and the indescribable atmosphere of peace and gladness which surrounded
her.

As I saw this, and realized the mother's life and the self-restraint
which had enabled her to accept the inevitable without raising a
complaint calculated to betray to the daughter that all was not as it
should be with them, I felt such a rush of awe sweep over me that some
of my fathomless emotion showed in my face; for Mrs. Ransome's own
countenance assumed a milder look, and advancing nearer, she pointed out
a room where we could speak apart. As I moved toward it she whispered a
few words in her daughter's ear, then she rejoined me.

"Oh, madame!" I murmured, "oh, madame! Show a poor girl what she can do
to restore you to your rights. The door is open and you can descend; but
that means----Oh, madame, I am filled with terror when I think what. He
may be in the hall now. He may have missed the key and returned. If only
you were out of the house!"

"My dear girl," she quietly replied, "we will be some day. You will see
to that, I know. I do not think I could stay here, now that I have seen
another face than his. But I do not want to go now, to-day. I want to
prepare Theresa for freedom; she has lived so long quietly with me that
I dread the shock and excitement of other voices and the pressure of
city sounds upon her delicate ears. I must train her for contact with
the world.

"But you won't forget me if I allow you to lock us in again? You will
come back and open the doors, and let me go down again through my old
halls into the room where my husband died; and if Mr. Allison
objects----My dear girl, you know now that he is an unscrupulous man,
that it is my money he begrudged me, and that he has used it and made
himself a rich man."

"I can not," I murmured, "I can not find courage to present the subject
to him so. I do not know my husband's mind. It is a fathomless abyss to
me. Let me think of some other way. Oh, madam! if you were out of the
house, and could then come----"

Suddenly, a thought struck me. "I can do it; I see the way to do it--a
way that will place you in a triumphant position and yet save him from
suspicion. He is weary of this care. He wants to be relieved of the
dreadful secret which anchors him to this house, and makes a hell of the
very spot in which he has fixed his love. Shall we under-take to do this
for him? Can you trust me if I promise to take an immediate impression
of this key, and have one made for mys