"'I can do nothing. He can make me helpless by a look; and he always carries them with him. But, Tom, if it could be done without being found out, I would tell papa to kill him. But I cannot let my dear papa be hanged for that wretch; and, you see, we have no evidence.' "'Good God! What a fearful thing it is!' I muttered. What help, what consolation could I offer? A refined and sensitive girl under the mesmeric control of a ruffian; her father subject to his extortions and insults; and the only escape a worse misery even than this--Kate to yield herself to him in marriage! Faugh! the thought sickened me; but it enraged me, too! Kate was right; death, sudden and merciless, was the proper measure to be meted out to Slurk. If he had appeared at that moment, I believe I would have shot him unhesitatingly, and rejoiced in the deed. Murder would be a righteous work when wrought on such as he; and if the murder were brought home to me, could I suffer in a better cause? "Kate had risen slowly from her chair, and was now fronting me, scanning my face and bearing with curious eagerness. She held her hands across her bosom, alternately interlacing the tips of the fingers and pulling them free again. Her lips moved as if in speech, but no sound came from them. "I got up presently, looking I daresay very solemn, as indeed I felt. Her eyes followed mine as I rose; and now we gazed straight at each other for some moments. "'I promised you that you should be freed,' I said, 'and you shall be. I shall be sorry to have any man's blood on my hands; but if you can be saved in no other way, it must be so.' "'You do love me, indeed!' she murmured, with a sort of sad exultation in her tone. But she added: 'I cannot let you do it. I cannot lose you, even to be freed from him. It is my father's fault, after all. Besides----' "'I take it upon myself,' interrupted I, with a dignity which may have been absurd, but which did not seem so to me at the time. "'But it would be murder--at any rate, the law would call it so. No, you must not be called a murderer, Tom. But I--they would not hang a woman: let me do it! I should love to do it!' "And she spoke with a look that confirmed the words. "Before I could reply, however, her expression changed again. She appeared to think intensely for a few moments, and then her face lighted up. Suddenly she caught my hand and kissed it! "'And kiss me, Tom!' she cried, excitedly. 'Kiss me, for I deserve it! I have thought of a way that will save us all!' "Much startled, and half fearing that the girl's mind had given way under the pressure of trouble, I was attempting to quiet her; but she silenced me by an impetuous gesture, and went on speaking eagerly and rapidly.