She fixed her eyes, trembling with fear and hope, upon Daniel, and added, in a voice of supplication and touching humility,—­

“The world has been more cruel than justice itself but you, sir, will you be harder than the magistrate?”

Alas!  Daniel was sorely embarrassed what to answer.  He felt as if all his senses were in an uproar and in utter confusion.

“Sir!” begged Miss Brandon again.  “M.  Champcey!”

She continued to fix her eyes upon him.  He turned his head aside, feeling as if, under her obstinate gaze, his mind left him, his energy evaporated, and all the fibres of his strong will were breaking.

“Great God!” exclaimed Miss Brandon, with grieved surprise; “he still doubts me.  Sir, I pray you, speak!  Do you doubt the authenticity of these letters?  Ah, if you do, take them; for I do not hesitate to confide them, the only proofs of my innocence, to your honor.  Take them and show them to the other clerks who have been sitting for twenty years in the same office with Malgat; and they will tell you that it is his handwriting; that he has signed his own condemnation.  And, if that is not enough for you, go to the magistrate who examined me; his name is Patrigent.”

And she waited, waited, but not a word came forth.

Daniel had sunk, undone, into a chair; and his elbow resting on a small stand, his brow in his hands, he endeavored to think, to reason.  Then Miss Brandon rose, came gently up to him, and taking his hand, said softly,—­

“I beseech you!”

But as if suddenly electrified by the touch of this soft, warm hand, Daniel rose so hastily, that he upset the chair; and, trembling with mysterious terror, he cried out,—­

“Kergrist!”

It was as if a fearful insult had set Miss Brandon on fire.  Her face turned crimson, and then, almost instantly, livid; and, stepping back a little, she darted at Daniel a look of burning hatred.

“Oh!” she murmured, “oh!” finding, apparently, no words to express all she felt.

Was she going away?  It looked as if she thought of it, for she walked to the door; but, suddenly changing her mind, she came back to where she had stood, facing Daniel.

“This is the first time in my life,” she said, trembling with rage, “that I condescend to justify myself against such infamous charges; and you abuse my patience by heaping insult after insult upon me.  But never mind.  I look upon you as upon Henrietta’s husband; and, since I have commenced, I mean to finish.”

Daniel tried to say a few words of apology; but she interrupted him,—­