said nothing of the respite, because she
was still happily unconscious of any necessity for such a thing. Neither
did he speak of the possible voyage to Europe; deeming it premature to
mention such a hope yet, lest she should, in her innocent ignorance of
her real position, chatter of it to her visitors, and so do her cause
harm.

He staid with her until the prison regulations for closing the doors at
six o'clock in the afternoon, obliged him to take leave and depart.

Then he went home in a more hopeful frame of mind than he had enjoyed
for many weeks.

The summer was slipping swiftly away.

Since the arrival of her respite for so long and indefinite a period, it
had been deemed proper by the warden to accord to his charge many
valuable privileges that she had not enjoyed, nor indeed, in her
unconsciousness of her real situation and indifference to all external
circumstances, had not missed in her imprisonment.

She was now permitted to walk in the shaded grounds and blooming gardens
within the walled inclosure around the prison.

Here, through the influence of fresh air and gentle exercise, her
physical health improved very much, though her mental malady remained
unmodified.

Here, also, some members of her household from Black Hall, were admitted
to see her.

Hitherto Miss Tabby, Raphael, and even little Cromartie had been
carefully excluded from her presence, lest the violent emotion of the
woman and the youth, or the innocent prattle of the child, should
suddenly strike

"The electric chord wherewith we are darkly bound,"

and shock her into a full consciousness of the awful position which her
friends were now more than ever anxious to conceal from her knowledge.
For they argued, if only this mist of insanity could be kept around her
for a little while longer, until the hoped-for pardon should come, then
she need never know that she had been the inmate of a prison or stood
within the shadow of the scaffold.

It was the opinion of her physician, and the fear of her friends, that
her reason would return with the birth of her child; and they prayed
that it might not do so until she should be free from the prison.

And so they had guarded her from all associations that might suddenly
bring back her memory and her understanding; and therefore had denied
the visits of her faithful and afflicted servants and _proteges_ from
Black Hall.

Now, however, after she had been some weeks enjoying the privileg