“Write,” said Brooks, “'I hereby certify that my accusations against the late Pulaski Wade of Heavy Tree Hill are erroneous and groundless, and the result of mistaken identity, especially in regard to any complicity of his in the robbery of John Stubbs, deceased, and Henry Brooks, at Heavy Tree Hill, on the night of the 13th August, 1854.'” The man looked up with a repulsive smile. “Who's the fool now, Cap'n? What's become of your hold on the widder, now?” “Write!” said Brooks fiercely. The sound of a pen hurriedly scratching paper followed this first outburst of the quiet Brooks. “Sign it,” said Brooks. The man signed it. “Now go,” said Brooks, unlocking the door, “but remember, if you should ever be inclined to revisit Santa Ana, you will find ME living here also.” The man slunk out of the door and into the passage like a wild animal returning to the night and darkness. Brooks took up the paper, rejoined Mrs. Wade in the parlor, and laid it before her. “But,” said the widow, trembling even in her joy, “do you--do you think he was REALLY mistaken?” “Positive,” said Brooks coolly. “It's true, it's a mistake that has cost you a hundred dollars, but there are some mistakes that are worth that to be kept quiet.” ***** They were married a year later; but there is no record that in after years of conjugal relations with a weak, charming, but sometimes trying woman, Henry Brooks was ever tempted to tell her the whole truth of the robbery of Heavy Tree Hill. THE MERMAID OF LIGHTHOUSE POINT