ashen face, but with a proud look in her clear
eyes.

"You are wrong," she answered, with a touch of scorn in her voice. "I
love him more now than ever." Then, before her father could stop her,
she placed her arms round her lover's neck, and kissed him wildly.

"My darling," she said, with the tears streaming down her white cheeks,
"whatever the world may say, you are always dearest of all to me."

Brian kissed her passionately, and moved away. Madge fell down at her
father's feet in a dead faint.

CHAPTER XI.

COUNSEL FOR THE PRISONER.

Brian Fitzgerald was arrested at a few minutes past three o'clock, and
by five all Melbourne was ringing with the news that the perpetrator of
the now famous hansom cab murder had been caught. The evening papers
were full of the affair, and the HERALD went through several editions,
the demand being far in the excess of the supply. Such a crime had not
been committed in Melbourne since the Greer shooting case in the Opera
House, and the mystery by which it was surrounded, made it even more
sensational. The committal of the crime in such an extraordinary place
as a hansom cab had been startling enough, but the discovery that the
assassin was one of the most fashionable young men in Melbourne was
still more so. Brian Fitzgerald being well known in society as a
wealthy squatter, and the future husband of one of the richest and
prettiest girls in Victoria, it was no wonder that his arrest caused
some sensation. The HERALD, which was fortunate enough to obtain the
earliest information about the arrest, made the best use of it, and
published a flaming article in its most sensational type, somewhat
after this fashion:--

HANSOM CAB TRAGEDY. ARREST OF THE SUPPOSED MURDERER. STARTLING
REVELATIONS IN HIGH LIFE.

It is needless to say that some of the reporters had painted the lily
pretty freely, but the public were ready to believe everything that
came out in the papers.

Mr. Frettlby, the day after Brian's arrest, had a long conversation
with his daughter, and wanted her to go up to Yabba Yallook Station
until the public excitement had somewhat subsided. But this Madge
flatly refused to do.

"I'm not going to desert him when he most needs me," she said,
resolutely; "everybody has turned against him, even before they have
heard the facts of the case. He says he is not guilty, and I believe
him."

"Then let him prove his innocence," said her father, who was pacing
slowl