"She was trying to get it; she gave me the bracelet as a bribe for delay, one night when I came. Still of one thing I pledge you my soul, it is pretty much all I have left now, your wife never dreamed that I was your enemy, Ford. She knew I was a villain, and held the fate of that pretty fool in my hands. Now you have the whole story. I came here to-night because I had not heard from her; now I believe she's dead. I thought I would see that girl there. Now, then, Grantley Mellen, are you satisfied? You have driven your wife away, you could believe her guilty, and pet that frivolous thing in her place!" "'When did I first see her?' when she was a flirty little school girl. "'When did I marry her?' what there was of it, remember--just after you started for California, when the widow Harrington innocently brought me a guest into this house against the wishes of its mistress, who had seen me about the boarding-school, charming the canary birds with serenades. Once or twice she caught me with my guitar playing the fool under her own window. Of course she was not certain whether the homage was intended for her or Elsie, but I think took it to herself and was indignant, giving me in exchange for my music, such looks as a queen might bestow on her slave. I rather liked her for it; that kind of homage was not suited to her. The heap of thistle down yonder liked it. She knew what it meant. The only deep thing about such creatures is their craft. That girl is cunning as a fox. The pure, innocent thing, for whom that splendid creature was sacrificed; if I were not dying, the idea would make me laugh. "There, now are we even? You deprived me of a fortune I was brought up to expect; I have managed to get some of it back. You loved a woman, and I married her. You married another woman, the most glorious creature I ever saw, and in a fit of jealous rage with me, turned her out upon the world to die. "Tell me now, if my revenge has been complete?" Mellen ran to the door and opened it. "Come in," he cried to the officers. "Carry that man away! Take him to the lodge; he shall not even die here." "As you will," cried Ford. "I will hold my tongue for that poor woman's sake." He could not walk, so they carried him down to the lodge, and there, while waiting for a doctor to come, he sat looking death in the face, with the same desperate bravado that had marked his conduct all the night. CHAPTER LXXVII. SEARCHING. Shriek after shriek from Elsie roused Mellen. She was raving in horrible delirium, and when assistance arrived it proved that she had been seized with brain fever, and there was scarcely a hope of her recovery. Standing there by her bed, this thought must have been a relief to Mellen; but he did not forsake her, his pride was utterly crushed. He longed to cast himself down by her side and die there.