hat never said 'my
darling' to me, nor heard me call you so. Suppose you haven't a dollar,
not a cent, in the world, and suppose you'll never earn a dollar or a
cent in the world, what difference does that make to me? I could
earn it; and I'd give more for a touch of your finger than a thousand
dollars; and more for a month with you than for a lifetime with the
richest man in the world. You never looked cross at me, or at any one,
and you never say an unkind thing, and you never find fault when
you suffer so. You never hurt any one, I know. You never hurt Vanne
Castine--"

Her fingers twitched in her lap, and then clasped very tight, as she
went on:

"You never hurt him, and yet he's tried to kill you in the most awful
way. Perhaps you'll die now--perhaps you'll die to-night--but no, no,
you shall not!" she cried in sudden fright and eagerness, as she got
up and leaned over him. "You shall not die; you shall live--for a
while--oh! yes, for a while yet," she added, with a pitiful yearning in
her voice; "just for a little while--till you love me, and tell me so!
Oh, how could that devil try to kill you!"

She suddenly drew herself up.

"I'll kill him and his bear too--now, now, while you lie there sleeping.
And when you wake I'll tell you what I've done, and you'll--you'll love
me then, and tell me so, perhaps. Yes, yes, I'll--"

She said no more, for her brother entered with the brandy.

"Put it there," she said, pointing to the table. "You watch him till I
come. I'll be back in an hour; and then, when he wakes, we'll bathe him
in the hot water and brandy."

"Who told you about hot water and brandy?" he asked her, curiously.

She did not answer him, but passed through the door and down the hall
till she came to Nic's bedroom; she went in, took a pair of pistols from
the wall, examined them, found they were fully loaded, and hurried from
the room.

About a half-hour later she appeared before the house which once had
belonged to Vanne Castine. The mortgage had been foreclosed, and the
place had passed into the hands of Sophie and Magon Farcinelle; but
Castine had taken up his abode in the house a few days before, and
defied anyone to put him out.

A light was burning in the kitchen of the house. There were no curtains
to the window, but an old coat had been hung up to serve the purpose,
and light shone between a sleeve of it and the window-sill. Putting her
face close to the window, the girl could see the bear