“Surely, you know that her long stay in Delaney House has so damaged her maiden fame that she can never take her proper place in the world until sheltered by some good man’s name,” said the detective. “You forget that I have explained everything, and that Miss Rodney’s reputation is cleared from every shadow of blame,” exclaimed Mr. Delaney. “No, I do not forget it. But I know that the world is censorious and cruel, and I am not sure whether it will accept your statement as true. At any rate, I am prepared to help Miss Rodney all that I can. I am rich and prosperous. I will marry her and take her away forever from this place where she has suffered so much if she will have me.” He paused a moment, and then added: “Of course if you were not already married, Mr. Delaney, you would be the most proper husband for Miss Rodney, but, as it is, I feel myself quite free to woo and wed her if I can, and to save her from all the troubles she would be likely to endure, unmarried.” He went out and left Mr. Delaney to some bitter reflections. CHAPTER LX. When Mr. Delaney’s physician came next day he declared that his patient was not as well as he had expected to find him. He looked apprehensive over him. “What have they been doing to you?” he asked, brusquely. “I have had the best of care, doctor,” Mr. Delaney answered. The old physician looked at him, curiously. The dark, handsome face was grave, and there was a settled sadness on it. But the tone, more than the words, struck the physician. A heartache ran drearily through it. “You are fretting over something,” he said. “Come, Delaney, this will not do. You will never get well at this rate.” Oran Delaney only smiled, but he said to himself that he did not greatly care. He had long been tired of his life. What matter how soon the end came. There would be no one to grieve for him, except his faithful old nurse. He thought of Mr. Rodney, but he said to himself that no jury in this southern land would convict him even if his victim died. All would think him justified in avenging his daughter. That day Mr. Delaney made his will. He left Mrs. Griffin a comfortable legacy, left a large sum of money to take care of the maniac, Julie Sanson, if she was ever found, and the residue of his large fortune he bequeathed unconditionally to Aline Rodney. And then he said to himself that he was ready to die. He had provided the best he could for the future of the girl whom he loved, and he had no more left to live for. His life had been ruined in its prime by a bad man’s treachery. Hope, love, happiness, henceforth could be only names to him. He did not care to live.