e been the murderer
of Mrs. Clemmens, Helen."

"Yes, there can be no doubt about that," was the reply.

"It has been proved then?"

"Yes."

Moved to the depths of her being, Imogene covered her face with her
hands. Presently she murmured:

"I do not understand it. Why should such a great man as he have desired
the death of a woman like her? He said it was all for my sake. What did
he mean, Helen?"

"Don't you know?" questioned the other, anxiously.

"How should I? It is the mystery of mysteries to me."

"Ah, then you did not suspect that she was his wife?"

"His wife!" Imogene rose in horror.

"Yes," repeated the little bride with decision. "She was his lawfully
wedded wife. They were married as long ago as when we were little
children."

"Married! And he dared to approach me with words of love! Dared to offer
himself to me as a husband while his hands were still wet with the
life-blood of his wife! O the horror of it! The amazing wickedness and
presumption of it!"

"He is dead," whispered the gentle little lady at her side.

With a sigh of suppressed feeling, Imogene sank back.

"I must not think of him," she cried. "I am not strong enough. I must
think only of Craik. He has been acquitted, you say--acquitted."

"Yes, and the whole town is rejoicing."

A smile, exquisite as it was rare, swept like a sunbeam over Imogene's
lips.

"And I rejoice with the rest," she cried. Then, as if she felt all
speech to be a mockery, she remained for a long time silent, gazing with
ever-deepening expression into the space before her, till Helen did not
know whether the awe she felt creeping over her sprang from admiration
of her companion's suddenly awakened beauty or from a recognition of the
depths of that companion's emotions. At last Imogene spoke:

"How came Mr. Mansell to be _acquitted_? Mr. Gryce did not tell me to
look for any such reinstatement as that. The most he bade me expect was
that Mr. Ferris would decline to prosecute Mr. Mansell any further, in
which event he would be discharged."

"I know," said Helen, "but Mr. Mansell was not satisfied with that. He
demanded a verdict from the jury. So Mr. Ferris, with great generosity,
asked the Judge to recommend the jury to bring in a verdict of
acquittal, and when the Judge hesitated to do this, the foreman of the
jury himself rose, and intimated that he thought the jury were ready
with their verdict. The Judge took advantage of this, and the result was