"You have wearied of it, perhaps," he said. "No," she said again; then, with a deepening color, "I have spent all my money, that is the reason. Have you forgotten, Mr. Valchester, that all the money I had was the reward I received for capturing the outlaw chief?" The soft eyes raised to his face saw a shadow fall over its handsome contour. "I--I had been trying to forget all about him," he said, constrainedly. "What have they done with the fellow, Miss Meredith?" "He is still confined in the county jail, I believe," she replied. "His counsel have been using every possible means to defer the new hearing of the case which was asked for and promised. Uncle Meredith says they are waiting for popular indignation to abate in hope of obtaining a more lenient verdict." "Very likely," said Ronald Valchester, and then there was a constrained silence. Jaquelina broke it herself in a voice that was slightly tremulous: "I--am afraid I did not do right that night, Mr. Valchester. I did not think--as I have since done--that it was not a fair return for his kindness to me--for he was kind--kinder than any one knew." The pretty penitence in her face touched him, but he did not speak. "I have puzzled over it often and often," she went on, slowly and thoughtfully, "I have asked myself whether my private obligation to him should have outweighed the good of the country at large. I have never been able to satisfy myself. Tell me, Mr. Valchester, did I do right or not?" "Miss Meredith," he answered, "many persons have asked me the same question, but I have never given my opinion to anyone." "Then, of course, you will not tell me," she said, disappointed, yet far too shy to insist upon it. "No, I will not now. I may do so at some future time," evasively. "Do you think," she said, just a trifle nervously, "it was worth while to attach any meaning to his threat of vengeance? Sometimes I have felt afraid." "I should not give it a thought," he replied. "It is not probable he will ever have the chance to harm you even if he wished it. No doubt the best part of his life will be passed in a prison cell." "Oh, I hope not," the girl cried out in irrepressible sorrow; "I cannot bear to think that I have been the cause of depriving anyone of liberty. I did not think of all these things in the fatal moment when I saw him peering at me behind that laurel there. Now I feel as if I had betrayed a human being to endless pain for a paltry two hundred dollars." Ronald Valchester looked before him silently at the weird, flickering shadows on the graveled path, and made no reply. "But I wanted the money so very, very much," she added, appealingly. Valchester looked down at the slim, white hand lying on his black coat sleeve, the taper forefinger sparkling "With one great gem of globed dew The moon shot crystal arrows through." "Did you never think of parting with your diamond ring?" he said, abruptly.