“It was just thus I fancied my poor father died! But, oh, Violet, I feel myself accessory to his death! If I had only listened to my parents’ advice, if I had not been an ungrateful, disobedient daughter, this sorrow had never come upon me. Oh, Heaven, to think of my dead father, my widowed mother, my own wrecked life, and all for one man’s sin! Oh, I wish I could lift up my voice in clarion tones and warn every young girl in the land to beware of fascinating strangers and silly flirtations!” With a bursting sob of keen remorse and agony, her head again sank on her breast. Silence reigned a little while, and through the broken pane of the garret window the moonlight streamed on the two unhappy girls crouching together with aching hearts. CHAPTER XXXV. “A YOUNG GIRL’S HONOR IS DEARER THAN HER LIFE.” Violet sobbed violently for some moments, then murmured, tremblingly: “Can you listen to the rest, Lena, so that we may be done with this tragic subject?” She was eager to unburden her mind of its bitter secret so long hidden in her tortured breast. “Yes, tell me all,” sighed the hapless girl, and Violet resumed: “When I saw your poor father fall, weltering in his blood at the murderer’s feet, I was so horrified that I could not utter the shriek that rose to my lips. My tongue seemed paralyzed, my limbs relaxed, and I dropped half-fainting into a chair. “I saw the murderer start across the room and turn the key in the lock; then he looked back, and the sight of me seemed to blast his eyes. I heard him murmur, with an oath, that he had forgotten me, that he would have to kill me to silence my tongue. “Ah, Lena, you know that life is sweet to all of us, especially the young and fortunate! Fancy my horror when I heard that I, too, must die! “I was about to shriek aloud, but with flaming eyes he rushed to me and clapped his hand so rudely over my mouth that my lips were bruised. “‘Be silent, or you shall share that old man’s fate!’ he hissed, savagely, in my ear. “I dared not speak, but my dilated eyes must have expressed my horror and aversion, for he went on, as if in apology: “‘I did it in self-defense, you know, for the old wolf was choking me to death!’ “I could not answer for the cruel hand upon my lips. He still held it there as he proceeded: “‘I do not like to kill you, for I am charmed with your beauty, and it would be terrible to kill such a fair young girl. But my own life is at stake, and I must look to myself. If I spare you, if I let you go free, will you take an oath never to betray me?’ “He released my lips, and I cried, indignantly: “‘It would not be right for me to shield you, Mr. Stanley. You have betrayed an innocent young girl and murdered her father! You are not fit to live!’ “‘So you would like to denounce me to the law?’ he sneered, but I could see that he was very uneasy. “‘Yes,’ I replied, frankly, as I turned my shuddering eyes away from the sight of the bleeding corpse upon the floor.