a moment, and then replied, 'He was asking me something
about Mr. Granger.'

"'What about him?' I queried. 'He asked me if I knew anything in regard
to the forgery,' he returned.

"I pressed him with questions, and found that suspicion was on the right
track. This friend of Granger's asked particularly about your visits
to the store, and whether he had ever noticed anything peculiar in
our intercourse--anything that showed a familiarity beyond what would
naturally arise between a customer and salesman."

"There's nothing in that," said Mrs. Dinneford. "If you and I keep our
own counsel, we are safe. The testimony of a condemned criminal goes for
nothing. People may surmise and talk as much as they please, but no one
knows anything about those notes but you and I and George."

"A pardon from the governor may put a new aspect on the case."

"A pardon!" There was a tremor of alarm in Mrs. Dinneford's voice.

"Yes; that, no doubt, will be the first move."

"The first move! Why, Mr. Freeling, you don't think anything like this
is in contemplation?"

"I'm afraid so. George, as I have said, is no more crazy than you or I.
But he cannot come out of the asylum, as the case now stands, without
going to the penitentiary. So the first move of his friends will be to
get a pardon. Then he is our equal in the eyes of the law. It would be
an ugly thing for you and me to be sued for a conspiracy to ruin this
young man, and have the charge of forgery added to the count."

Mrs. Dinneford gave a low cry, and shivered.

"But it may come to that."

"Impossible!"

"The prudent man foreseeth the evil and hideth himself, but the simple
pass on and are punished," said Freeling. "It is for this that I have
sent for you. It's an ugly business, and I was a weak fool ever to have
engaged in it."

"You were a free agent."

"I was a weak fool."

"As you please," returned Mrs. Dinneford, coldly, and drawing herself
away from him.

It was some moments before either of them spoke again. Then Freeling
said,

"I was awake all night, thinking over this matter, and it looks uglier
the more I think of it. It isn't likely that enough evidence could be
found to convict either of us, but to be tried on such an accusation
would be horrible."

"Horrible! horrible!" ejaculated Mrs. Dinneford. "What is to be done?"
She gave signs of weakness and terror. Freeling observed her closely,
then felt his way onward.

"We are in great peril," he s