these friendless girls, and be prepared, I counsel you, with your
accounts, to meet Him when the day of reckoning comes! And it may come
sooner than you suspect. I, for one, shall keep an unslumbering eye upon
you and your devices while I live, even though at a distance.--Miriam, I
am always ready to assist you, my dear, in any way possible to me--call
on me freely. Remember, I am your friend." He came to me, he took me to
his breast, he kissed my brow, his tears were on my cheek. I cast my
arms about his dear, old, noble neck; I leaned my quivering face against
his bosom. "I always loved you," I said. "I am so sorry, so sorry, Mr.
Stanbury!" I knew no more--the words forsook my lips. Again that wild
whirl of waters surged upon my ears; I seemed to be falling, falling
down a black, steep, bottomless shaft, beneath which the sea was
roaring--falling head-foremost--hurled as if with a strong impulse down
the abyss to certain destruction.

Then all was still. The jaws of my dark malady had opened to receive me.

I woke as from a long, deep, and unrefreshing slumber. I was lying in my
bed, with the curtains, drawn closely around it--the heavy crimson
curtains, with their white inside draperies and snowy tufted fringes. I
had a vague consciousness that some hand had recently parted them, and
the tassels on the valance were quivering still with the impulse they
had thus received. Then I heard voices.

"How much longer will it endure, Evelyn?"

"Five or six hours, I suppose. What time is it now?" The clock in the
hall struck ten before the question could be answered.

"Ten! It was about three when she was seized," rejoined the voice of