"My dear young lady, let me be your friend," he said in his grave concern. "Tell me the whole truth. I know you have not done so yet. Let it be what it will, I promise to--if possible--shield you from harm." "Those men are saying in the kitchen that it was I who attacked Lord Level; I overheard them," she shuddered, the words coming from her brokenly in her agitation. "Make a friend of me; you shall never have a truer," he continued, for really he knew not what else to urge, and he could not work in the dark. "Tell me all from beginning to end." But she only shivered in silence. "Blanche!--did--you--do--it?" "No," she answered, with a low burst of heartrending sobs. "_But I saw it done._" END OF VOL. I. BILLING AND SONS, PRINTERS, GUILDFORD. _S. & H._ Transcriber's Notes: Inconsistent and archaic spelling retained.