“And for what is such a murder done? It proceeds from a dwarfed, distorted soul, deliberately, consciously, intelligently made so by its possessor. Its purpose is to destroy the one touch of beauty, sweetness, and purity that makes us akin to the angels. It sees an exquisite flower; that flower must be plucked, else its beauty would flourish and its destiny be fulfilled. It finds love in its purest, noblest, most unselfish form between two whom God had made each for the other for the fulfilling of his own inscrutable design, and by lies and treachery proceeds to kill one and destroy the happiness of the other. What punishment, madam, is adequate for such a murder? The hands of the law would be polluted by strangling a murderer so base, so cowardly, so infinitely lower and meaner than the lowest beasts, so utterly unworthy of the honor of the gallows-tree. There can be but one adequate punishment, and only Omnipotence could devise a hell sufficient for it. And the sooner this punishment comes, the sooner will the vengeance of God be satisfied. What higher duty could rest upon a mortal standing in awe and reverence under his Maker’s law than to set the law in force?” In the dismay and terror that now filled her soul the woman could not mistake the meaning of that threat, nor the madness that would give it force. A numbing fear, a feeling that she was sinking into a bottomless pit, put gyves upon all her faculties. In a hopeless stupor she sat, in speechless dread of the blow that she felt must fall. To her dazed attention the avenger himself stood before her in all the terror of infuriated justice free from its leash and plunging forward headlong and irresistible to satisfy its vengeance. Never had she dreamed that a mortal could face a thing so terrible as this man, who, having dragged her from death, and with infinite patience, gentleness, and unselfishness had been nursing her back to health and strength, now stood as the judge and executioner of her naked, trembling, convicted soul. Her eyes strained, her lips apart, she looked up, speechless and motionless, into his face; and to her his blazing eyes and tense frame filled all the world with vengeance, scorn, and death. “Woman,” he cried, “whether it be murder or justice, your death would remove an infamous stain from the face of this fair world. If you can, make your peace with God, for I am going to send your damned black soul where it can do no further harm. It is with immeasurable hate, with infinite loathing, that I am going to kill you.” He clutched her shoulder, and the hot iron grip of his fingers tore her skin. He thrust his face close to hers, and she heard the grinding of his teeth, which his parted lips showed as the fangs of a maddened beast. “You viper!” he cried; “you have no right to life!” She saw his free hand seeking her throat. Then her energies were unlocked. She threw back her head, and with all her might cried out,--