ess. Her face had become
pale and her lips were tremulous. Paul, too, felt as though the issues
of light and darkness lay within the next few minutes, while his mother
sat rigid in her chair, never moving a muscle, her eyes fixed on the
man who had just come into the room.

The judge pulled off his heavy fur-lined coat and went to the door. He
seemed afraid lest someone might be listening.

"What I have to say," he said, "is between ourselves alone. A great
deal of it is not for the ears of the world, although some of it must
perforce be made known."

Silence followed for some time, and the listeners seemed almost too
much moved to breathe, while the speaker appeared to find his task even
harder than he had imagined. There was a look which suggested fear in
his eyes, and although he constantly glanced at the woman opposite him,
he seemed unable to gaze at her steadily.

"I need not describe at length that visit to Scotland," he said
presently. "You all know practically what there is to know. I was an
orphan. On my father's side I belonged to the Scotch people, on my
mother's to Cornwall. They died when I was very young, leaving a sum
sufficient to educate me and to start me in life--at least, so they
thought. I had chosen the profession of the law, and when I took my
degree at Oxford I began reading for the Bar. I had imagined that I
had an income sufficient to keep me during the time I was passing my
examinations and while I might have to wait for briefs. It was at this
time that I went to Scotland with some companions. There I met with
you, Jean. There I fell in love with you."

The woman gave a quivering sigh as he spoke, but uttered no word. Her
eyes were fixed on him steadily. She seemed to be trying to read his
soul.

"I do not think I was a bad lad," he went on, "and I loved you truly.
I meant every word I said to you. Doubtless from the worldly-wise
man's standpoint I was foolish and acted without due thought, but I
yielded to the promptings of my heart, and--and so, at least, I can
tell you that, Jean."

He was evidently speaking to her rather than to the others. For the
moment they might not have existed at all.

"Badly as I may have treated you, you may believe that, at all events,
I loved you with all the fresh, warm affection of a boy, and meant
nothing but what was right and true."

Again he paused, as if trying to recall the scenes among the Scottish
hills.

"You know I had