"'My dear Rissler,' he began, 'I don't deny that you have disappointed me, but, after all, it is only what I might have expected, and my regard for you is so great that----' "His hand was feeling, as he spoke, for the dagger which had been in the inside pocket of his cloak. Missing it, he turned suddenly upon me, his eyes blazing with maniacal fury and fire; but before he could lift hand, I struck him squarely, with all my strength, between the eyes, and, as he reeled back, I snatched at the handle of the dagger, and stabbed him to the heart at one stroke." CHAPTER XXXIX. "GOD SAVE THE KING!" Kate gave a terrible cry as the words fell from my lips, and snatching away the hand which I had been holding, staggered, white and faint, to the sofa. "Don't turn from me, darling," I said, kneeling beside her. "No one who fears God and honours his King, who loves his country, could have acted other than I did. The man meant well, meant nobly, I believe, originally, and his passion and devotion to the cause of the poor I shall remember with reverence to the end of my life. But his well-meaning had passed into mania, so that he had become, as you know, a relentless and wholesale murderer, whose very existence was a menace to the nation. I struck because I was compelled, and in self-defence. I had no option, for his intention at the moment was to murder me. Had I spared him, he would either have died at the hangman's hands, or, more horrible still, have dragged out his remaining years in a madhouse. You are a woman, darling; not a girl any longer--a brave woman, a true woman, and must see that, terrible as it was and is, I should have been a traitor to my King and country had I failed to act as I did, for, mad for blood as the man was, he might--would, I believe, within the next few minutes--have murdered the King himself." "It is horrible!" she said, shuddering. "Horrible! But I will be brave, dear, and I do see, horrible as it is, that you are right. Is he dead?" "He is dead," I replied. Again she buried her face in her hands and sank back sobbing. But soon the sobs became less frequent, and at last she was composed enough to motion to me with her hand to finish the story. "And what happened then?" interposed Miss Clara.