"I came back," I heard him whisper, "because I saw that you had something to say to me. Julie is observant. I couldn't speak to you in the hall, Margaret. What is the matter? What did you indicate by the signs?" "It's him, sir," she answered. "This thing we have feared has come." "You cannot mean it!" he exclaimed. "How could we expect different, sir? The heart of her is like that of other healthy young girls. I could tell by the look on her face, sir. The like of it has never been there before. 'T is given to some one to have his way with her, Judge. I think it's him." They were talking of me! "He would have to be told," said the old man. I could see the top of the silk hat shaking. "And she would have to be told!" "It is awful, sir!" she answered, wringing her hands. "But I'd never spoil it that way for anything." "You forget the other!" he said sternly. "Lost," she argued. "The time has gone by. It was not a human, sir. I could never mention her name--beautiful thing she is!--with that other." "I know--I know," whispered the old man distractedly. "Well, then, let things run their course. God will not let harm come of it." "Blood," said he. For a moment there was no sound. The one word seemed to have decided all questions and to have called for silence. "In case of my death--" the Judge began after a while. Margaret Murchie uttered a little cry. "I have left a paper where she will find it," he finished. "I can do nothing more now. Perhaps--perhaps it will not be a crisis, after all. I think if I had the chance again, I would send him to his doom." With these words he raised his clenched fist and walked rapidly across the grass to the arched exit leading to the alley. The click of the latch told me that he had gone. You may imagine my state of mind. As I endeavored in those seconds to wrest some meaning from the tangle of words I had overheard, my thoughts were tumbling over each other so fast that I had forgotten the doubtful part I had played as an eavesdropper. I had heard a reference made to me as one who had brought some new complication into the affairs of that household which heretofore I had regarded as the most spotless and quiet in the city, but which now I found had some dark and mysterious menace hanging over its peace. Was I the one, after all, to whom they had referred? They had spoken of some one else and whispered strange phrases. It was all a blank puzzle to me. Perhaps under different circumstances my caution and dislike of all that is unusual or doubtful would have led me away from the house, planning never to return. But there is in me a certain loyalty. I do not quickly cast my lot or my reputation with that of another; when, however, I have done so, I do not quickly withdraw. Extraordinary as it may seem, I felt myself already bound to Julianna. Perhaps I already loved her desperately.