u, Burr!"

"Let them hang me, then!"

"Tell them; they won't believe me!"

Burr caught hold of her two arms and raised her to her feet. "See
here, Madelon," said he, "don't you know--"

She looked at him dumbly.

"Don't you know--I would not tell them if they would, but--I might
tell them until I was gray, and they would not believe me!"

Madelon cried out sharply, as if she in her turn had been struck to
the heart.

"It is true," Burr said, quietly.

"Then if he dies without telling, there is no way of--saving you--"

Burr shook his head.

"The knife--how--came your knife there instead of Richard's?"

Burr smiled.

Bluish shadows came around Madelon's dark eyes and her mouth. She
gasped for breath as she spoke. "I--have--killed you, then," said
she. Suddenly she put up her white, stiffly quivering lips to Burr's.
"Kiss me!" she cried out. "I beg you to give me the kiss that I might
have killed you for last night!"

Burr bent down and kissed her, and she threw her arms around him and
pressed his head to her bosom. "They shall not," she cried out,
fiercely--"they shall not hang you! I will make them believe me!
Don't be afraid, don't be afraid, Burr."

"Madelon," Burr said, huskily, "I have been double-faced and false to
you, but, as God is my witness, I'm glad I've got the chance to
suffer in your stead."

"You shall not! They shall believe I did it. I will make Lot Gordon
tell. He shall tell before he dies!"

The bolt slid back, and Alvin Mead's great bulk darkened the doorway.
Madelon turned her face towards him, with her arms still clasping
Burr and holding his head to her bosom. "This man is innocent!" she
cried out, with a fierce gesture of protection, as if she were
defending her young instead of her false lover. "I tell you he is
innocent--you must let him go! I am the one who stabbed Lot Gordon!"

Alvin Mead stared; his heavy pink jaw lopped.

"I tell you, you must let him go!" She released Burr from her arms
and gave him a push towards the door. "Go out," she said; "I am the
one to stay here."

But Alvin Mead collected and brought about his great body with a show
of lumbering fists. "Come," said he, "this ain't a-goin to do. We
can't have no sech work as this, young woman. It's time you went."

"Let him go, I tell you!" commanded Madelon, confronting him
fiercely. "I am going to stay."

"They won't let you come again if you don't go quietly now," Burr
whispered, and he laid his han