d wanting in strength
of mind and faith in you, that I would not have stood by you as a father
should stand by his son?"

Stratton groaned.

"Forgive me," he said feebly; "I was half-mad."

"Yes."

"How could I, crushed by the horror of having taken a fellow-creature's
life, cursed by the knowledge that this man was--But you cannot know
that."

"Take it, boy, that I know everything," said the old man, resuming his
seat.

"Then have some pity on me."

"Pity for your folly? Yes."

"Folly! You are right. I will take it that you know everything, and
speak out now. Brettison--"

He paused--he could not speak. But by a mighty effort he mastered his
emotion.

"Now think, and find some excuse for me. I was in my room there, elate
almost beyond a man's power to imagine; in another hour the woman whom I
had idolised for years was to be my wife. Recollect that, two years
before, my hopes had been dashed to the ground, and I had passed through
a time of anguish that almost unhinged my brain, so great was my
despair."

"Yes," said Brettison, "I recall all that."

"Then that man came, and I was face to face with the knowledge that once
more my hopes were crushed, and--he fell."

Stratton ceased speaking, and sat gazing wildly before him into the
past.

It was in a husky whisper that he resumed:

"I stood there, Brettison, mad with horror, distraught with the
knowledge that I was the murderer of her husband--that my hand, wet with
his blood, could never again clasp hers, even though I had made her
free."

The old man bent his head; and, gathering strength of mind and speech,
now that he was at last speaking out openly in his defence, Stratton
went on:

"It was horrible--horrible! There it is, all back again before my eyes,
and I feel again the stabbing, sickening pain of the bullet wound which
scored my shoulder, mingled with the far worse agony of my brain. I had
killed her husband--the escaped convict; and, above the feeling that all
was over now, that my future was blasted, came the knowledge that, as
soon as I called for help, as soon as the police investigated the
matter, my life was not worth a month's purchase. For what was my
defence?"

Brettison satin silence, smoking calmly.

"That this man had made his existence known to me, shown by his presence
that his supposed death was a shadow--that, after his desperate plunge
into the sea, he had managed to swim ashore and remain in hiding; the