the man that would have seen me hang and never said a
word to save me?"

"He would not have done that, you know, father. He spoke out at last, in
order to save you from being rearrested. And you gave me your consent
before----"

"Ay, before I knew that he had done the deed! I thought that his sister
had done it, and that he was keeping her secret, when I gave my consent,
my girl. It makes a deal of difference."

"Not to me," said Cynthia quietly. "He did wrong; but I learned to love
him before I knew the story; and I can't leave off loving him now."

Westwood sat down and began rapping the table with his roll of plans in
a meditative manner.

"Women are curious folk," he said at last. "When a man's prosperous,
they nag at him and make his life a weariness to him; but, when he's in
trouble, they can't be too faithful nor too fond. It's awkward
sometimes."

"But it's their nature, you see, father," said Cynthia, smiling a little
as she folded up her work.

"I suppose it is. And I suppose--being one of them--it's nothing to you
that this man's name has been cried high and low throughout the British
Empire as a monster of iniquity, a base cowardly villain, so afraid of
being found out that he nearly let another man swing for him--that's
nothing to you, eh?"

Cynthia's cheeks burned.

"It is nothing to me because it is not true," she said. "I know the
world says so; but the world is wrong. He is not cowardly--he is not
base; he has a noble heart. And when he did wrong it was for his
sister's sake and to save her from punishment--not for his own. Oh,
father, you never spoke so hardly of him before!"

"I am only repeating what the world says," replied Westwood stolidly. "I
am not stating my own private opinion. What the world says is a very
important thing, Cynthia."

"I don't care for what it says!" cried Cynthia impatiently.

"But I care--not for myself, but for you. And we've got to pay some
attention to it--you and I and the man you marry, whoever he may be."

"It will be Hubert Lepel or nobody, father."

"It may be Hubert; but it won't be Hubert Lepel with my consent. He has
no call to be very proud of his name that I can see. Look here, Cynthia!
When he comes out, you can tell him this from me--he may marry you if
he'll take the name of 'Westwood' and give up that of 'Lepel'. Many a
man does that, I'm told, when he comes into a fortune. Well, you're a
fortune in yourself, besides what I've got to leave