"I went to the side of the pier--I cannot understand how it was that I
did not see you--I stood there some few minutes, and then I took the
little bundle; I raised it gently and let it fall into the sea. But my
baby was dead--I swear to that. Oh, Heaven! if I dared--if I dared fling
myself in the same green, briny waves!

"I was mad with anguish. I went back to my lodging; the landlady asked
me if I had left the baby in Brighton, and I answered 'Yes.' I do not
know how the days went on--I could not tell you; I was never myself, nor
do I remember much until some weeks afterward I went home to my
grandmother, who died soon after I reached her. I need not tell you that
afterwards I met Lance, and learned to love him with all my heart.

"Do not tell him; promise me, I beseech you, for mercy's sake, do not
tell him!"

"What you have told me," I said, "certainly gives a different aspect to
the whole affair. I will make no promise--I will think it over. I must
have time to decide what is best."

"You will spare me," she went on. "You see I did no one any harm, wrong
or injury. If I hurt another, then you might deprive me of my husband
and my home; as it is, Lance loves me and I love him. You will not tell
him?"

"I will think about it," I replied.

"But I cannot live in this suspense," she cried. "If you will tell him,
tell him this day, this hour."