"I'm coming," she answered; "don't wait for me, I'll keep near you." As they had already observed her evident wish to be left to herself, they complied with her request. The icy calm of her despair was now broken. "God bless him for his kindness!" she murmured, and "God bless him for his hearty, hopeful words; they may save me yet," and she followed the others, crying softly to herself like a little child. It would seem as if every warm tear fell on her heart, that had been so hard and desperate before, so rapidly did it melt at the thought of the old man's kindness. But before she reached the hotel she began to grow excessively weary. She had not only overtaxed her powers of endurance, but had over-estimated them. At last, as she was about to ask her companions to walk more slowly, lest she should be left alone by the roadside in her weakness, she heard the sound of strong, rapid steps. "Where is Miss Mayhew?" was the anxious query of a voice that made her heart bound and color come into her face, even at the moment of almost mortal weakness and weariness. "Here is Miss Mayhew," said one of the half-grown youths. "She prefers to walk by herself, it seems." "Thank you," replied Van Berg, decisively. "I will see her safely home;" and the part went on, leaving him face to face with the maiden whom he now believed he had very greatly wronged, and who, he feared might yet proved herself capable of a terrible crime. She stood before him with bowed head. In her weakness and agitation she trembled so violently that even in the starlight he could not help seeing her distress, and it filled him at once with pity and alarm. "You are ill, Miss Mayhew," he said, anxiously. "Yes," she answered; then, conscious of her growing need, she said, appealingly, "Mr. Van Berg, with all my faults I am at least a woman. Please help me home. I'm so weak and weary that I'm almost ready to faint." He seized her hand and faltered hoarsely, "Miss Mayhew, you have not--you have not taken that drug---" She was so vividly conscious of her own dark secret, and so impressed by his power to discover all the evil in her nature, that she replied in a low tone, "Hush. I understand you. Not yet." "Thank God!" he ejaculated, with such a deep sigh of relief that she looked at him in surprise. The he drew her hand within his arm, and weary as she was, she could not help noting that it trembled as if he had an ague. For a few moments they walked on without speaking. Then the artist addressed her. "Miss Mayhew---" "Mr. Van Berg," she said, hastily interrupting him. "Spare me to-night. I'm too weary even to think." Again they walked on in silence, but his agitation was evidently increasing. "Let me enter by that side door, please," she said as they approached the hotel.