o hear and endure such a preposterous suspicion! And it
is all easy enough for any honest mind to understand my explanation."

"Oh, Sybil! Sybil! that indeed--I mean your presence at her death, with
all its concurrent circumstances might be explained away! But the dying
woman's last solemn declaration, charging you as her murderess, that was
the most direct testimony! Oh, Heaven, Sybil! Sybil! prepare for your
flight; for in that is your only hope of safety! Prepare at once, for
there is not an instant to be lost!"

"Stop!" said Sybil, suddenly and solemnly--"Lyon Berners, do _you_
believe that dying declaration to have been true?"

"No! as the Lord hears me, I do not, Sybil! I know you were incapable
of doing the deed she charged upon you! No! I am sure she spoke in the
delirium of sudden death and terror," said Lyon Berners earnestly.

"Nor will any one else who knows me, believe it! So be tranquil. I am
not guilty, nor will I run away like a guilty one. I will stay here and
tell the truth," said Sybil composedly.

"But, oh, good Heavens! telling the truth will not help you! The law
deals with _facts_, not _truths_! and judges of facts as if they were
truths. And oh! my dear Sybil! the lying facts of this case involve you
in such a net of circumstantial evidence and direct testimony as renders
you liable to arrest--nay, certain to be arrested and imprisoned upon
the charge of murder! Oh, my dear, most innocent wife! my free, wild,
high-spirited Sybil! even the sense of innocence could not save you from
imprisonment, or support you during its degrading tortures! _You_ could
not bear--_I_ could not bear for you, such loss of liberty and honor for
one hour--even if nothing worse should follow! But, Sybil, worse may,
worse _must_ follow! Yes, the _very worst_! Your only safety is in
flight--instant flight! And oh! Heaven! how the time is speeding away!"
exclaimed the husband, beside himself with distress.

During the latter part of his speech the wife had started to her feet,
and now she stood staring at him, amazed, incredulous, yet firm and
brave.

"Rouse yourself to the occasion, Sybil! Oh! for my sake, for Heaven's
sake, collect your faculties and prepare for flight," he passionately
urged.

"I am innocent, and yet I must fly like the guilty! Lyon, for your sake,
and only for yours, I will do it," she answered gravely, and sadly.

"We must not call assistance, nor stop to compliment each other. Pack
quickly