“Again, I repeat, I know no such thing.”  Then after a pause, he continued:  “We might as well understand each other at once.”

He produced a paper, and went on:  “Here, I suppose, is the article you speak of.  I see it is in my hand-writing, and lest by any chance it should again fall into your hands, I will destroy it.”

And holding it in the candle, it was soon reduced to ashes.  The outwitted girl sat dumb with astonishment, surprise and dismay, and, for several seconds, was speechless.  When utterance came, she inquired: 

“How, in the name of reason, did you get that paper in your possession?”

“I will be frank:  I watched you putting it away, and the next day I went and took it.”

“And this is my reward for the signal service you demanded as the price of that written promise?”

“My continued love will be your reward.”

“Your love!  Think you, vile miscreant, I would have the base semblance of affection from such a polluted thing as you?  No, sir!  Now that I see your depravity, worlds would not tempt me to wed you, degraded as I am!  How I have remained blinded so long is a mystery I cannot solve, in the overwhelming light of this hour.  Thank God, I am even with you!—­Yes, thank Him from the bottom of my heart!  You have deceived me, but in this instance I am not behind you.  Ellen Walton left this house as pure as she entered it!  Think you I had no object in all my restrictions of time, of secrecy and darkness?  I had.  One hour in the society of Miss Walton, convinced me of her unsullied purity, and another of your baseness.  I resolved to save her at all hazards; and I did.  My only regret now is, that I made myself the victim instead of her!”

“H—­ll and furies!”

“Even, am I not?”

“May the devil take you!”

“Better take care of the old fellow yourself; and of woman’s wit, too!”

“I’ll have my revenge yet.  I’ll swear that I did stay the night with Ellen, despite your treachery.”

“It will do you no good.  My sister gave the young lady an attested certificate, stating that she passed the whole time with her, the two together, that the door to their room was locked, and that they were undisturbed during the night.—­Nothing like a ‘woman’s wit!’”

[Illustration:  “And drawing a pistol, which some freak had caused her to conceal in her dress, she made it ready, and, with her finger on the trigger, aimed it at his heart.”—­See page 29.]

“I curse you!  Vile, treacherous—­”

“Spare your epithets, inhuman monster! or, by the heavens above us, you leave not this spot alive!”

And drawing a pistol, which some freak had caused her to conceal in her dress, she made it ready, and, with her finger on the trigger, aimed it at his heart.  Like all villains of his caste, he was a coward, and trembled with quaking fear before the flashing eye and resolute look of the excited girl.