She looked at him dumbly.

"Don't you know--I would not tell them if they would, but--I might
tell them until I was gray, and they would not believe me!"

Madelon cried out sharply, as if she in her turn had been struck to
the heart.

"It is true," Burr said, quietly.

"Then if he dies without telling, there is no way of--saving you--"

Burr shook his head.

"The knife--how--came your knife there instead of Richard's?"

Burr smiled.

Bluish shadows came around Madelon's dark eyes and her mouth. She
gasped for breath as she spoke. "I--have--killed you, then," said
she. Suddenly she put up her white, stiffly quivering lips to Burr's.
"Kiss me!" she cried out. "I beg you to give me the kiss that I might
have killed you for last night!"

Burr bent down and kissed her, and she threw her arms around him and
pressed his head to her bosom. "They shall not," she cried out,
fiercely--"they shall not hang you! I will make them believe me!
Don't be afraid, don't be afraid, Burr."

"Madelon," Burr said, huskily, "I have been double-faced and false to