ssurance." Which showed how
little he understood my real position.

There was comfort in this very thought, however, and I quietly remarked
that I did not despair.

"And I _will_ not," he emphasised, rising with an assumption of ease
which left him as he remained hesitating before me.

It was my moment of advantage, and I improved it by proffering a request
which had been more or less in my mind during the whole of this
prolonged colloquy.

First thanking him for his disinterestedness, I remarked that he had
shown me so much consideration as a lawyer, that I now felt emboldened to
ask something from him as my friend.

"You are free," said I; "I am not. Miss Cumberland will be buried before
I leave these four walls. I hate to think of her going to her grave
without one token from the man to whom she has been only too good and
who, whatever outrage he may have planned to her feelings, is not without
reverence for her character and a heartfelt repentance for whatever he
may have done to grieve her. Charles, a few flowers,--white--no wreath,
just a few which can be placed on her breast or in her hand. You need not
say whom they are from. It would seem a mockery to any one but her.
Lilies, Charles. I shall feel happier to know that they are there. Will
you do this for me?"

"I will."

"That is all."

Instinctively he held out his hand. I dropped mine in it; there was a
slight pressure, some few more murmured words and he was gone.

I slept that night.

VIII

A CHANCE! I TAKE IT

I entreat you then
From one that so imperfectly conjects,
You'd take no notice; nor build yourself a trouble
Out of his scattering and unsure observance:
It were not for your quiet, nor your good,
Nor for my manhood, honesty or wisdom,
To let you know my thoughts.

_Othello_

I slept, though a question of no small importance was agitating my mind,
demanding instant consideration and a definite answer before I again saw
this friend and adviser. I woke to ask if the suggestion which had come
to me in our brief conversation about the bottles taken from the
wine-vault, was the promising one it had then appeared, or only a fool's
trick bound to end in disaster. I weighed the matter in every
conceivable way, and ended by trusting to the instinct which impelled me
to have resource to the one and only means by which the scent might be
diverted from its original course, confusion be sown in the minds of the
police, and Carmel, a