Jasper Melrose insisted that he should take his horse, and Cecil accepted it very thankfully. But before he left, he went to take a sorrowful look at the death-like face of Amber. Oh, how changed, how pallid, how corpse-like it looked in the dim light. The dark lashes lay prone on the marble cheeks. There was no color on the lips that had uttered so many cruel falsehoods of sweet Violet. Cecil shuddered with grief, and pain, and pity, and heaved a deep sigh as he turned away. CHAPTER XLIX. WHAT GLORIOUS NEWS FOR A LOVER! He threw himself into the saddle, and set out for Golden Willows and Bonnycastle. The short winter afternoon was far spent, but the snow had ceased to fall, and was melting upon the ground. In the sky, the twilight was darkening over the blue, as he drew rein at Golden Willows. They told him at the gate that Judge Camden was alive, but going fast, although the physician was doing all he could to save him. No one knew, as yet, the cause of his strange seizure. Mrs. Shirley was in the sick-room when the message came to her that Cecil Grant was waiting to see her for a moment, on very important business. The invalid, whose severe cramps had been subdued, lay still and death-like on the bed, but he caught the words and made a gesture to Mrs. Shirley: “Tell Cecil Grant to come up here,” he said, weakly. Startled, but not daring to disobey, she went down to Cecil, who hurriedly imparted his bad news. “Doctor Perry has already told us, and I am very sorry for Amber, but I cannot leave Judge Camden,” she replied. “Is he so very ill, then?” asked Cecil, and she answered: “We fear that he will die. I will tell you a terrible secret, known only to the doctor and myself. Judge Camden is suffering from arsenical poisoning. He drank half a glass of wine given him by Amber, and was soon seized with terrible cramps, and rang his bell. I answered it, and finding him suffering so much with his stomach, administered a mustard emetic, then sent for the doctor. When he came he suspected arsenic from the symptoms, and found in the half-glass of wine that remained a quantity of the terrible drug. We cannot imagine how it happened. Amber must have made a terrible mistake. Fortunately, the judge did not get the full dose, or he would be dead ere now. Doctor Perry declares that the mustard emetic saved him, but he is very weak, and may die of exhaustion. In fact, he believes himself dying, and has asked to have you sent up to him--I suppose to ask your forgiveness for all his enmity toward you.” Cecil could not refuse the plea of a dying man. He followed Mrs. Shirley to the judge’s room. The weak eyes rested, with a gratified look, on Cecil, and the old man said, feebly: “Doctor Perry, you may leave us alone for a few minutes, please.” The physician retired, thinking that the young lawyer had been summoned to draw up the judge’s will, and Mrs. Shirley and Cecil stood waiting by the bedside.