"Yes, he was very sorry for his sins," replied Ronald. "He regretted his sin against you the most of all." After a moment he added, gently: "His dearest wish, Lina, was that you and I might be re-united." She put up her hands as if she could not bear the words. "He was full of life and strength," she said. "Why did he die? What killed him, Ronald?" "You will not be shocked if I tell you?" he said, hesitatingly. "I wish to know," she answered. "He was in the theater the night you were burned," he answered in a low voice. "He tried to save your life, dear. He leaped from the upper tier into the parquette--fell, and was almost trampled to death beneath the feet of the maddened multitude. He died a slow and painful death from internal injuries." "He died for me," Jaquelina cried in a voice of pain, and the tears fell from her eyes for the man who had wrecked her life and given his own so freely at last for her sake. Ronald wiped those tears away, and when she could speak she said, looking gravely at him: "Ronald, who was it that saved my life? Tell me." "No one knows," he replied, uneasily. "Yes, Ronald, _I_ know--I have always known," she replied. "Ah, do not blush. I have never breathed it to anyone, but I know that it was you that saved me from death that night." "I thought you insensible," he exclaimed, unconsciously admitting the truth of her words. "Ah, Ronald!" she cried, with sudden uncontrollable pain and passion. "I was almost dead, but I knew whose arms held me, and whose lips kissed me. It seems to me if I were dead and you touched me, even, I should surely know it." "Ah, Lina, my darling," he cried, "there are no barriers between us now. All are broken. You will be my own at last!" She looked at her lover with dark, despairing eyes and a death-white face. "You forget--Violet," she said, in a desolate whisper. She saw a dark shadow come over the handsome, love-lighted face. "Lina, I have not told you all that Gerald Huntington told me yet," he said. "Do you remember that it was a disguised woman who liberated him from prison?" "Yes," she replied, wonderingly. "It was Violet who connived at his escape, and furnished him the means to get away safely. The price of her aid was that he should kidnap you and prevent our marriage." "I can scarcely believe it," cried the girl. "It is quite true," he answered. "Gerald swore to it. Violet does not deny it." "You did not charge her with it?" the girl cried, in breathless dismay. "Yes," he replied, firmly. "She was very angry at first, but when I had talked to her awhile, she owned the truth. She had visited the prisoner, and they had concocted their diabolical plan of revenge together. She hated you, dear, because--she loved me." "And she gave you back your freedom?" Lina said, with unconscious hopefulness. "Yes, when I had asked her," he answered, with a slight flush. "Her offense had been too great for me to marry her. Do you blame me, Lina?"