y idea of the martyrdom he
caused, "what was the name of the person who offered you this ring, and
from whom you refused to take it?"

"The name?" She quavered for a moment, and her eyes flashed up toward
heaven with a look of wild appeal, as if the requirement of this moment
was more than even she had strength to meet. Then a certain terrible
calm settled upon her, blotting the last hint of feeling from her face,
and, rising up in her turn, she met Mr. Ferris' inquiring eye, and
slowly and distinctly replied:

"It was Craik Mansell, sir. He is a nephew of Mrs. Clemmens."

It was the name Mr. Ferris had come there to hear, yet it gave him a
slight shock when it fell from her lips--perhaps because his mind was
still running upon her supposed relations with Mr. Orcutt. But he did
not show his feelings, however, and calmly asked:

"And was Mr. Mansell in this town the day before the assault upon his
aunt?"

"He was."

"And you had a conversation with him?"

"I had."

"May I ask where?"

For the first time she flushed; womanly shame had not yet vanished
entirely from her stricken breast; but she responded as steadily as
before:

"In the woods, sir, back of Mrs. Clemmens' house. There were
reasons"--she paused--"there were good reasons, which I do not feel
obliged to state, why a meeting in such a place was not discreditable to
us."

Mr. Ferris, who had received from other sources a full version of the
interview to which she thus alluded, experienced a sudden revulsion of
feeling against one he could not but consider as a detected coquette;
and, drawing quickly back, made a gesture such as was not often
witnessed in those elegant apartments.

"You mean," said he, with a sharp edge to his tone that passed over her
dreary soul unheeded, "that you were lovers?"

"I mean," said she, like the automaton she surely was at that moment,
"that he had paid me honorable addresses, and that I had no reason to
doubt his motives or my own in seeking such a meeting."

"Miss Dare,"--all the District Attorney spoke in the manner of Mr.
Ferris now,--"if you refused Mr. Mansell his ring, you must have
returned it to him?"

She looked at him with an anguish that bespoke her full appreciation of
all this question implied, but unequivocally bowed her head.

"It was in his possession, then," he continued, "when you left him on
that day and returned to your home?"

"Yes," her lips seemed to say, though no distinct utterance c