When he had concluded she drew away her hand and sat erect, her bosom heaving, her eyes glistening. “Oh, Carson,” she cried; “I never was so happy in my life! It actually pains me.” She pressed her hand to her breast. “Mammy will be so--but you say she must not--must not yet--” “That's the trouble,” Dwight said, regretfully. “I'm sure I could put her and Lewis on their guard so that they would act with discretion, but Blackburn and Garner--in fact, all the rest--are afraid to risk them, just now anyway. You see, they think Linda and Lewis might betray it in their emotions--their very happiness--and so undo everything we have accomplished.” “Surely, now that the report of Sam Dudlow's confession has gone out, they would let Pete alone,” Helen said. “I wouldn't like to risk it quite yet,” said Dwight. “Right now, while they are under the impression that an innocent negro has been lynched, they seem inclined to quiet down, but once let the news go out that a few town men, through trickery, had freed the prisoner, and they would rise more furious than ever. No, we must be careful. And, Helen, you must remember your promise. Don't let even your sympathy for Linda draw it out of you.” “I can keep it, and I really shall,” Helen said. “But you must release me as soon as you possibly can.” “I'll do that,” he promised, as she rose to go. “I'll keep it,” she repeated, when she had reached the door; “but to do so I'll have to stay away from mammy. The sight of her agony would wring it from me.” “Then don't go near her till I see you,” Dwight cautioned her. “I'll meet all the others to-day and put the matter before them. Perhaps they may give in on that point.” CHAPTER XXIX [Illustration: 9260] T the corner of the street Helen encountered Sanders, who was waiting for her. At the sight of him standing on the edge of the sidewalk, impatiently tapping the toe of his neatly shod foot with the ferrule of his tightly rolled silk umbrella, she experienced a shock which would have eluded analysis. He had been so completely out of her thoughts, and her present mood was of such an entrancing nature that she felt a desire to indulge it undisturbed. The bare thought of the platitudes she would have to exchange with any one ignorant of her dazzling discovery was unpleasant. After all, what was it about Sanders that vaguely incited her growing disapproval? This morning could it possibly be his very faultlessness of attire, his spick-and-span air of ownership in her body and soul because of their undefined understanding as to his suit, or was it because--because he had, although through no fault of his own, taken no part in the thing which today, for Helen, somehow, held more weight than all other earthly happenings? Indeed, fate was not using the Darley visitor kindly. He was unwittingly like a healthy soldier on a furlough making himself useful in the drawing-room while news of victory was pouring in from his comrades at the front.