"Oh! you do begin to show a little interest; and now, to punish you, I have a great mind not to tell you; however, I will take pity upon your suspense; but first, you must promise never, never, n-e-v-e-r to mention it again--will you promise?" "Yes." "Well, then, listen. Stop! get a good place to faint first, and then listen. Are you ready? One, two, three, fire. The Rev. Thurston Willcoxen is a married man!" "What!" "Mr. Thurston Willcoxen has been married for eight years past." "Pshaw!" "Mr. Willcoxen was married eight years ago this spring at a little Methodist chapel near the navy yard of this city, and by an old Methodist preacher, of the name of John Berry." "You are certainly mad!" "I am not mad, most noble 'doubter,' but speak the words of truth and soberness. Mr. Willcoxen was married privately, when and where I said, to a beautiful, fair-haired lady, whose name heard in the ritual was Marian. And my husband, Olly Murray, was the secret witness of that private marriage." A wild scream, that seemed to split the heart from whence it arose, broke from the lips of Miriam; springing forward, she grasped the wrist of Alice, and with her wild eyes starting, straining from their sockets, gazed into he face, crying: "Tell me! tell me! that you have jested! tell me that you have lied? Speak! speak!" "I told you the Lord's blessed truth, and Oily knows it. But Miriam, for goodness sake don't look that way--you scare me almost to death! And, whatever you do, never let anybody know that I told you this; because, if you did, Olly would be very much grieved at me; for he confided it to me as a dead secret, and bound me up to secrecy, too; but I thought as it concerned you so much, it would be no harm to tell you, if you would not tell it again; and so when I was promising, I made a mental reservation in favor of yourself. And so I have told you; and now you mustn't betray me, Miriam." "It is false! all that you have told me is false! say that It is false! tell me so! speak! speak!" cried Miriam, wildly.