Editha, at seventeen, had not as yet analyzed her own feelings toward her uncle’s _protege_; and thus we find her at the time of the trial pouring out her impulsive regrets and grief in the most unreserved manner, while her tender heart was filled with keenest anguish at the fate of her _beau ideal_ of all manly excellence. As for Mr. Dalton, he did not share the faith of either his daughter or his brother-in-law; and, notwithstanding he was vastly astonished upon discovering Earle Wayne in the hands of a policeman at his own door on the night of the robbery, yet he was a man who could easily believe almost anything of one whom he disliked. He did dislike Earle, simply because Editha showed him so much favor; and he was rather glad than otherwise now, if the truth were known, that this very fascinating young hero was to be removed from his path, even though he was to become a prisoner. He began to fear that she had already grown to admire him more than was either wise or proper, considering the vast difference in their relative social positions; and it would never do for the aristocratic Miss Dalton, heiress-expectant, to fall in love with an _office boy_. And so Earle Wayne went to prison. But he went with a stout heart and a manly courage that very few possess who are doomed to drag out a weary term of years behind bolts, and bars, and solid walls. CHAPTER III A FRIEND IN NEED “I did not do it. I have not _that_ on my conscience to weigh me down. I am to suffer for another’s crime, and though it is a bitter trial, yet it is better so than that I was really guilty and could go free. I had rather be in my place, dreadful as it is, than in that of the real thief, and I will make my misfortune serve me a good turn in spite of all. I will fit myself for the very highest position in life, and then, when my three years are ended, _I will go out and occupy it_. I will not be crushed. I will rise above the disgrace. I will live it down, and men shall yet be _proud to call me friend_.” So mused our hero as, for the first day in —— prison, he was doomed, according to the rules of that institution, to solitary confinement. Earle Wayne’s was no weak nature, to yield himself up to useless repining and vain regrets. The die was cast, and for the next three years he was to be like any other criminal, and dead to all the world, except that portion of it contained within those four dreary walls, and the one or two outside who should continue faithful to him. Nothing could help it now, unless the real thieves should confess their crime, which they were not at all likely to do, and he bravely resolved to make the best of his situation, hard though it was. He went cheerfully to his work; he uttered no complaint, he sought no sympathy, and improved every hour that he could call to his own to the utmost.