and that I knew how she had been
deceived about her father's death, need I say why I was afraid to
acknowledge my motive?'

"I understood that Miss Jethro might well be afraid of the consequences,
if she risked any allusion to Mr. Brown's horrible death, and if it
afterward chanced to reach his daughter's ears. But this state of
feeling implied an extraordinary interest in the preservation of Emily's
peace of mind. I asked Miss Jethro how that interest had been excited?

"She answered, 'I can only satisfy you in one way. I must speak of her
father now.'"

Emily looked up from the manuscript. She felt Cecilia's arm tenderly
caressing her. She heard Cecilia say, "My poor dear, there is one last
trial of your courage still to come. I am afraid of what you are going
to read, when you turn to the next page. And yet--"

"And yet," Emily replied gently, "it must be done. I have learned my
hard lesson of endurance, Cecilia, don't be afraid."

Emily turned to the next page.

4. _She Speaks of the Dead_.

"For the first time, Miss Jethro appeared to be at a loss how to
proceed. I could see that she was suffering. She rose, and opening a
drawer in her writing table, took a letter from it.

"She said, 'Will you read this? It was written by Miss Emily's father.
Perhaps it may say more for me than I can say for myself?'

"I copy the letter. It was thus expressed:

"'You have declared that our farewell to-day is our farewell forever.
For the second time, you have refused to be my wife; and you have done
this, to use your own words, in mercy to Me.

"'In mercy to Me, I implore you to reconsider your decision.

"'If you condemn me to live without you--I feel it, I know it--you
condemn me to despair which I have not fortitude enough to endure. Look
at the passages which I have marked for you in the New Testament. Again
and again, I say it; your true repentance has made you worthy of the
pardon of God. Are you not worthy of the love, admiration, and respect
of man? Think! oh, Sara, think of what our lives might be, and let them
be united for time and for eternity.

"'I can write no more. A deadly faintness oppresses me. My mind is in
a state unknown to me in past years. I am in such confusion that I
sometimes think I hate you. And then I recover from my delusion, and
know that man never loved woman as I love you.

"'You will have time to write to me by this evening's post. I shall stop
at Zeeland to-morrow, on my way