"Oh, Jasper, Jasper! Have pity on me!" she cried; "have pity. You wrong me, you wrong him. He did not come to see me; he did not know I was here! We have not spoken--not a word, not a word!" and she moaned; "but as I stood and watched him, and saw how changed he was, and heard him sigh, I knew that he had not forgotten, and--and my heart went out to him. I--I did not mean to speak, to follow him, but I could not help it. Jasper, you see--you see, it is impossible--our marriage, I mean. Have pity on me and let me go! For your own sake let me go! Think, think! What satisfaction, what joy can you hope for? I--I have tried to love you, Jasper, but--but I cannot! All my life is his! Let me go!" He almost flung her from him, then caught her again with an oath. "By Heaven, I will not!" he cried, fiercely. "Once for all, I will not! Take care, you have made me desperate! It is your fault if I were to take you at your word." He paused for breath; then his rage broke out again, more deadly for its sudden, unnatural quietude. "Do you think I am blind and bereft of my senses not to see and understand what this means? Do you think you are dealing with a child? You have waited your time, and bided your chance, and you think it has come. Would you have dared to do this a month ago? No, there was no certainty of the boy's death then; but now--now that you see he will die, you think my power is at an end----" With a cry she sprang to her feet and confronted him, terror in her face, an awful fear and sorrow in her eyes. As the cry left her lips, it seemed to be echoed by another close behind them, but neither of them noticed it. "Frank--die!" she gasped. "No, no; not that! Tell me that you did not mean it, that you said it only to frighten me." He put her imploring hand away with a bitter sneer. "You would make a good actress," he said, "do you mean to tell me that you were not counting on his death? Do you mean to tell me that you would not have wound up the scene by begging for more time--time to allow you to escape, as you would call it! You think that once the boy is dead you can slip from your bargain and laugh at me! You are mistaken; since the bargain was struck, I have strove, as no man ever strove, to make it easy for you, to win your love, because I loved you. I love you no longer, but I will not let you go. Love you! As there is a Heaven above us, I hate you to-night, but you shall not go." She shrank from him cowering, as he towered above her, like some beautiful maiden in the old myths shrinking from some devouring monster. "Listen to me," he said, hoarsely, "to-morrow I either give this paper"--and he snatched the forged bill from his breast pocket and struck it viciously with his quivering hand--"I either give it into your hands as my wife, or I give it to the nearest magistrate. The boy will die! It rests with you whether he dies at peace or in a jail." White and trembling she sat and looked at him.