"She repents of her cruelty to me," he said in his heart. Meanwhile Guy Kenmore had spread a dark covering over Revington's mangled form, and Elaine knelt down beside him on a low cushion which Mr. Kenmore had arranged for her. She looked with compassionate gentleness at the sufferer who was passing away so fast from the reach of all earthly resentment. "You are a stranger to me," she said, wonderingly. "Why did you try to harm me, and what can you have to confess to me?" "You shall know presently," he answered. "Wait until Clarence Stuart comes back. You must hear my story together--you two who have been so foully wronged and parted." CHAPTER XLV. A startled look came over Elaine's face at those strange words from the lips of the dying man. "Wronged and parted," she repeated, vaguely. "Yes," he replied, and at that moment the door unclosed and Mr. Stuart came again into the room. "Let all go out now except Mr. Stuart and this lady," said Julius Revington, feebly. But Elaine interposed: "I should like for my friend, Mr. Kenmore, to stay," she said. "He knows all the story of my life, and if I have been deceived beyond what I know I should like for him to hear it." Julius Revington looked curiously at the man whom Elaine claimed as her friend. The doctor and the priest had retired, and the four were alone in the room. "What is he to you?" he asked, in his weak, painful tones. Elaine looked up at Guy. "Shall I tell him?" she asked. He bowed his head in acquiescence, and she replied: "He is my daughter's husband." "Irene's husband!" exclaimed the dying man, feebly, and Clarence Stuart echoed the startled cry, "Irene's husband!" "Yes, she is my wife, but she believed me dead when she promised to marry you," replied Guy Kenmore, looking at the dying man. "My God," exclaimed Julius Revington, and for a few moments he lay silent contemplating this strange piece of news, then he looked curiously at the handsome, noble-looking man. "You did not claim her when you came," he said. "It was her secret. I was waiting until she gave me leave to divulge it," was the quiet reply. Elaine had been listening with startled eyes. She sprang up and caught Mr. Kenmore's arm. "I--do not--understand you," she panted. "You speak as if--as if my child were yet alive!" He took her trembling hands and held them gently in his own. "I meant to break it to you gently," he said. "But do not be shocked. That is the news I had for you. Irene is alive, and but a few miles away from you. You shall see her soon." An ominous gasp from Julius Revington recalled them to his side. "That news will wait," he said. "But I--I have but a little while to live. Listen to me first."