"Yes. And why did I ever make him love me? Ah, Nellie, if only----" Nellie had sprung up. "How do you know he loves you?" she cried. "How do I know, dear? Why, he told me." "When? when?" "Why, before--the day before it all happened. But since then I have felt, and I told him, that he belonged to you--I mean, dear, that it must be you now whom he must really love, and that I----" Nellie was not listening. "He told you before?" she asked in a low voice. "Yes, the day before. But afterward----" "You were actually engaged then?" "Yes, we were." "I never knew it. I didn't know that. Oh, how wicked I have been!" "Wicked? What do you mean?" asked Janet, puzzled at her companion's strange behavior. Nellie stood silent, and Janet went on. "But I feel, I can't help feeling, that it is to you he owes his life--to you----" "Be quiet!" cried Nellie. "Are you engaged now?" "I--I don't know." "Does he still love you?" "Yes, I think so." "Why didn't you tell me? Why did you keep me in the dark? Why did you tempt me?" "Indeed, I don't understand." "I didn't know he had told you. I only thought he had a fancy---- Oh, and I loved him too! I did indeed!" "I know, dear," said Janet; "and so, when you had been so brave, and I so cowardly----" "Stop!" cried Nellie again, and as she spoke the door opened and Dale Bannister came in. He was fresh back from London, and had ridden over to see Nellie. He stood and looked in surprise from one to the other. There was evidently something more than an afternoon call going on. Nellie greeted his coming almost gladly. "Ah, you are here? Then I can tell you. I can't bear it any longer. O Dale, I didn't know you had told her. Indeed I didn't, or I would never have done it;" and, carried away by her emotion, she fell on her knees before him. "Why, Nellie, what in the world's the matter?" "I have been wicked," she went on quickly, clinging to his hand. "I have deceived you. I have told you lies. Oh, how wicked I have been!" Dale looked inquiringly at Janet, but she shook her head in bewilderment. "Well, Nellie, let's sit down quietly and hear the villainy. What is it?" She refused to let him raise her, and went on, as she was, on her knees. "I didn't mean it at first. I didn't think of it, but when I found you all thought it, and--and you were pleased, Dale, I couldn't help it." Dale saw the only chance of arriving at the truth was not to interrupt. He signed to Janet to keep silence. "I came up meaning to warn you. I was afraid for you. I saw you standing by the tree, and I was running toward you, and all of a sudden I saw him, and the pistol, and----" She paused and drooped her head. Dale pressed her hand and said: "Well, Nellie?" "I was afraid," she said, "and I turned and began to run away, and as I was running, it hit me." And, her confession ended, she sank into a little woebegone heap on the floor at his feet.