"Can I do anything for you, Mrs. Cleveland?" "No," she answers, in an enraged snarl, like an angry canine. Lady Vera continues, calmly: "Pray understand me. I have no wish to wage further warfare upon you. With the fulfillment of my oath of vengeance my feud against you ended. I despise your hatred and your attempt to injure me, and I have no desire to punish you more than I have already done in obedience to my oath of vengeance. If there is anything I can do for you, speak." Mrs. Cleveland looks wonderingly at the beautiful, calm, white face of the girl as she stands waiting for her answer. "Do you mean that you will not prosecute me for this attempt on your life? That you will suffer me to go free?" she inquires in a doubtful tone, in which hope faintly struggles. "Yes, I mean that, if you wish it--do you?" Vera asks, still quietly. "Yes, but I hate to take a favor from you," the woman answers, sullenly. "Do not take it as a favor. Consider that I am heaping coals of fire upon your head," Lady Vera answers, with a slight, cold laugh. "I choose to take my revenge that way. Sir Harry, will you please loose her bonds?" The baronet looks his disapproval. "Lady Vera, pray do not give way to such a Quixotic impulse," he urges. "If you do, this woman will live to make you regret it. You owe her no forbearance. I say let her suffer the penalty of the law for her attempted crime." Lady Clive and Elsie echo his words, but the countess shakes her golden head. "It is my wish that she shall go free," she answers, with resolution. "Colonel Lockhart, will you not loose her bonds?" It is the first time she has seemed to be conscious of his presence. The deep color mantles her cheek as she speaks his name, and lifts a timid, appealing glance to him that makes his heart beat fast in his breast. "Since _you_ wish it, Lady Vera, yes," he answers, with a low bow, and hastens to execute her will, while the baronet, a little chagrined at her willfulness, looks silently on. A moment and the strong cords that bind her enemy fall to the floor. Mrs. Cleveland rises erect and tall, and faces Vera. "Do not expect me to thank you for this release," she says, bitterly. "Although I am glad to go free, I hate you if possible even more that you have had it in your power to do me a kindness." "I expect no thanks," the countess answers icily. "I only desire to be rid of your presence." She lifts her white hand, and points commandingly at the door. "Now go." "One moment," exclaims the baronet. "How did you gain admittance to Lady Vera's bedchamber, and conceal yourself there?" "By my woman's wit," she answers, curtly and decisively. "Then, perhaps, you can find your way out in the same manner," the baronet rejoins, sarcastically. "Perhaps so, but I think, on the whole, I should prefer a guide," she answers, with cool insolence.