Yet his arms still held her close to him, and he gazed down into the upturned face that rested against his breast. It was his keen sense of her suffering that weighed on him now. What a wreck he had made of her life--what infinite compassion and pity he felt! He held her closer. "What is it, dear?" she asked. But he could not translate his feeling into words. "Oh, if there were only something we could do!" she moaned. "Through all these weeks you have given me hope and strength! You say that I am brave! Your love and devotion have lifted me out of myself; I would be ashamed to be a coward when I think of all you have endured!" He felt her shiver in his arms, then in the momentary silence the court-house bell struck the half-hour. "I thought it was later," she said, as the stroke of the bell died out in the stillness. "It is best that you should leave this place, dearest--" "Don't send me from you, John--I can not bear that yet--" she implored. Pityingly and tenderly his eyes looked deep into hers. What had she not endured for his sake! And the long days of effort had terminated in this last agony of disappointment; but now, and almost mercifully, he felt the fruitless struggle was ended. All that remained was the acceptance of an inexorable fate. He drew forward his chair for her, and as she sank wearily into it, he seated himself on the edge of the cot at her side. "McBride's murderer will be found one of these days, and then all the world will know that what you believe is the truth," said North at length. "Yes, dear," replied Elizabeth simply. Some whispered word of General Herbert's or the deputy's reached them in the interval of silence that ensued. Then presently in that silence they had both feared to break, the court-house bell rang again. It was twelve o'clock. Elizabeth rose. "I am going now--John--" she said, in a voice so low that he scarcely heard her. "I am going home. You wish it--and you must sleep--" She caught his hands and pressed them to her heart. "Oh, my darling--good night--" She came closer in his arms, and held up her lips for him to kiss. The passion of life had given place to the chill of death. It was to-day that he was to die! No longer could they think of it as a thing of to-morrow, for at last the day had come. "Yes, you must go," he said, in the same low voice in which she had spoken. "I love you, John--" "As I do you, beloved--" he answered gently. "Oh, I can not leave you! My place is here with you to the very last--do not send me away!" "I could not bear it," he said steadily. "You must leave Mount Hope to-morrow--to-day--" He felt her arms tighten about his neck. "To-day?" she faltered miserably. "To-day--" Her arms relaxed. He pressed his lips to her pale cold lips and to her eyes, from which the light of consciousness had fled. "General Herbert!" he called. Instantly the general appeared in the doorway. "She has fainted!" said North.