Once in awhile a servant or the clerk, in passing through the upper hall late at night, thought they heard a low sobbing and moaning in their rooms, but they had been told something of the invalid’s infirmity, and so gave themselves no uneasiness upon the subject. And so right there in the very midst of the great city, with the detectives at work all about them, and the excitement that the deep mystery was creating, this great wrong was being perpetrated; and had it not been for Earle Wayne’s strange whim to change his hotel upon that particular night, when the house was so full, and madam’s “son” absent, the story of Editha’s remarkable disappearance and rescue would never have been related. * * * * * When Editha awoke, after two hours of undisturbed refreshing sleep, she found Earle still sitting beside her, and her former attendant, with her face buried in her hands, sitting in sullen silence upon the lounge opposite. “I _did_ not dream it, then?” she said, looking up into her lover’s face with a long-drawn, trembling sigh. “No, my darling; you have slept too soundly to dream of anything. Are you rested?” he asked, bending down to kiss the sweet quivering lips. “Yes; but, oh! Earle, don’t let _him_ come back again,” she pleaded, with a shudder, as she reached out her thin hand and grasped his with nervous strength. He bent his lips to her ear, and whispered: “No, my own; he is safely locked within the next room, and he can never hurt you again. Bring some more of that drink,” he added, addressing the woman opposite. She arose and obeyed, and Editha drank as eagerly as before. “Could you eat something?” he asked, regarding with a thrill of pain the thin hands that held the bowl. “No, not now, Earle; I will wait and take breakfast with you by and by,” she answered, with a bright, hopeful look into his anxious face. “You are feeling better already?” he asked, eagerly. “Yes,” she returned, with a ripple of happy laughter. “You know ‘a merry heart doeth good like a medicine,’ and I feel very happy and _safe_ just now.” Indeed, she did not look like the same person that Earle had seen through the transom. Her eyes were now bright and hopeful, and her face shining with happiness and content. “You will let me talk now? I cannot sleep any more,” she said, as she settled back upon the pillow which he arranged for her. “If you are able, a little. I do not wish you to get too weary.” “I want to tell you how I happen to be here—at least, all that I know about it myself—and I have _such_ good news for you.” “Then let it be in just as few words as possible, or the excitement will be too much for you,” he replied, feeling greatly relieved to see her looking so much brighter, and to hear her speak in her natural tone once more.