"I shall not hesitate at all. Seeing you as you are, makes my
course easy. You will never share any burden with me as my wife."

Still she was not abashed.

"It is a pity," she whispered; "it would have saved you such
unnecessary struggle. But a week is not long to wait. I am certain
of you then. This day week at twelve o'clock, Frederick."

He seized her by the arm, and lost to everything but his rage,
shook her with a desperate hand.

"Do you mean it?" he cried, a sudden horror showing itself in his
face, notwithstanding his efforts to conceal it.

"I mean it so much," she assured him, "that before I came home
just now I paid a visit to the copse over the way. A certain
hollow tree, where you and I have held more than one tryst,
conceals within its depths a package containing over one thousand
dollars. Frederick, I hold your life in my hands."

The grasp with which he held her relaxed; a mortal despair settled
upon his features, and recognising the impossibility of further
concealing the effect of her words upon him, he sank into a chair
and covered his face with his hands. She viewed him with an air of
triumph, which brought back some of her beauty. When she spoke it
was to say:

"If you wish to join me in Springfield before the time I have set,
well and good. I am willing that the time of our separation should