me to me. When I began to go out of doors they told me you were
low with fever. Then I got ready to go to you, and that very day I
saw you pass the door. I thought surely you would come to see me,
but--but you went away."

Polly's lips were trembling, and she covered her eyes a moment with
her handkerchief.

"I feared to be unwelcome," said he.

"You and every one, except my mother, was determined that I should
marry Roberts," Polly went on. "He has been urgent, but you,
Sidney, you wouldn't have me. You have done everything you could
to help him. Now I've found you, and I'm going to tell you all,
and you've got to listen to me. He has proof, he says, that you
are guilty of another crime, and--and he says you are now a
fugitive trying to escape arrest."

A little silence followed, in which Trove was thinking of the Hope
letters and of Roberts' claim that he was engaged to Polly.

"You have been wrapped in mysteries long enough. I shall not let
you go until you explain," she continued.

"There's no mystery about this," said Trove, calmly. "Roberts is a
rascal, and that's the reason I'm here."

She turned quickly with a look of surprise.

"I mean it. He knows I am guilty of no crime, but he does know
that I am looking for Louis Leblanc, and he has fooled me with
lying letters to keep me out of the way and win you with his guile."

A serious look came into the eyes of Polly.

"You are looking for Louis Leblanc," she whispered.

"Yes; it is the first move in a plan to free Darrel, for I am sure
that Leblanc committed the crime. I shall know soon after I meet
him."

"How?"

"If he should have a certain mark on the back of his left hand and
were to satisfy me in two other details, I'd give my life to one
purpose,--that of making him confess. God help me! I cannot find
the man. But I shall not give up; I shall go and see the Governor."

Turning her face away and looking out of the window, she felt for
his hand. Then she pressed it fondly. That was the giving of all
sacred things forever, and he knew it. He was the same Sidney
Trove, but never until that day had she seen the full height of his
noble manhood, ever holding above its own the happiness of them it
loved. Suddenly her heart was full with thinking of the power and
beauty of it.

"I do love you, Polly," said Trove, at length. "I've answered your
queries,--all of them,--and now it's my turn. If we were at
Robin's Inn, I should put