“In this world no good news can ever come to me.”

“Do you know that recently earnest efforts have been made to induce the Governor to pardon you?  That I have just returned from a visit to him?”

“I was not aware of it; but I am grateful for your effort in my behalf.”

“I was disappointed.  The pardon was not granted.  Since then, fate, who frowned so long upon you, has come to your rescue.  The truth has been discovered, proclaimed; and I came here this afternoon with an order for your release.  For you the prison doors and gates stand open.  You are as free as you were that cursed day when first you saw me and robbed my life of peace.”

For a moment she looked at him bewildered; then a great dread drove the blood from her lips, and her voice shook.

“What truth has been discovered?”

“The truth that you are innocent has been established to the entire satisfaction of judge and jury, prosecution and Governor, sheriff, warden, and you are free.  Not pardoned for that which all the world knows now you never committed; but acquitted without man’s help, by the discovery of a fact which removes every shadow of suspicion from your name.  You are at liberty, owing no thanks to human mercy; vindicated by a witness subpoenaed by the God of justice, in whom you trusted—­even to the end.”

“Witness?  What witness?  You do not mean that you have hunted down—­”

She paused, and her white face was piteous with terror, as pushing away the cradle she came close to him.

“I have seen the face of the man who killed Gen’l Darrington.”

She threw up her arms, crossing them over her head.

“O, my God!  Have I suffered in vain?  Shall I be denied the recompense?  After all my martyrdom, must I lose the one hope that sustained me?”

Despite the rage which the sight of her suffering woke within his heart, he could not endure to witness it.

“Can you find no comfort in release?  No joy in the consciousness of your triumphant vindication?”

“None!  If you have robbed me of that which is all I care for on earth, what solace can I find in release?  Vindication?  What is the opinion of the world to me?  Oh! how have I ever wronged you, that you persecute me so vindictively, that you stab the only comfort life can ever hold for me?”

“And you love him so insanely, that to secure his safety, existence here in this moral sty is sweet in comparison with freedom unshared with him?  Listen!  That belief stirs the worst elements in my nature; it swings the whip of the furies.  For your own sake, do not thrust your degrading madness upon my notice.  I have labored to liberate you; have subordinated all other aims to this, and now, that I have come to set you free, you repulse and spurn me!”

She was so engrossed by one foreboding, that it was evident she had not even heard him, as moving to the bench in front of the window she sat down, shivering.  Her black brows contracted till they met, and the strained expression of her eyes told that she was revolving some possibility of succor.