casm in his words; in his
tones only a sort of dreary monotony. She shivered a little--how cold it
seemed! She did not quite grasp his words--and yet she shrank from them.
And then her very soul seemed to cry out against them, to pit itself
against their meaning, as their meaning surged upon her. And
unconsciously she drew herself up, and the whiteness of her face fled
before a rush of color.

"Oh, the shame of it!" she burst out. "The bitter shame of it! You shall
not touch the money--do you hear! You shall not touch it! I--I thought
that you had understood this afternoon. I am glad then that you have
come to-night--if I must say more to make you understand. This is the
end! I do not care what happens--the little I can do now to atone for
what I have done, I am going to do. The game is at an end--you shall not
touch another cent--and everything that we have taken goes back to those
whom we have worse than robbed it from! You hear--you understand! I will
cry it out in the town street if there is no other way--but it shall
stop--it shall stop to-night"--she was panting, breathless, the little
figure erect, outraged, quivering--and then suddenly the shoulders
seemed to droop, the lips to tremble, and she was on her knees upon the
grass beside the bench, and sobbing as a child.

"Helena!" Madison said hoarsely. "Helena! Listen! That is what I came
for to-night--to find a way out for you, for us all, if I can."

The passionate outburst passed--and she was on her feet again, facing
him.

"You are clever--clever!" she cried fiercely. "But you shall not play
with me--you shall not trick me--I meant every word I said!"

But now Madison made no answer. The moonlight bathed them both in its
clear, white radiance; and touched the sward, shading it to softest
green; and the trees limned out like fairy things against the night; and
the calm light flooded the little cottage with its hidden walls where
the ivy and the creepers grew, and lingered over the trellises to drink
the fragrance of the flowers that peeped out from their leafy beds. And
upon Madison's face crept slowly the anguish that was in his soul--until
it was mirrored there--until unconsciously it answered her where words
would have been useless things. Like some white-robed, sorrowing angel,
she seemed, as she stood there before him--the brown eyes full of
shadow, troubled; the sweet face tear-splashed; the little figure in its
simple muslin frock, pitiful in its br