the aid of Heaven, she had made an incision in the vein. A few black
drops of blood trickled down--then more; then fast and faster flowed
the dark stream over her dress, on the floor, for she could not
move--her strength was ebbing away. Presently the brain of the
stricken man, relieved of the pressure on it, began to resume its
functions; the spasms and convulsions ceased, and a low moan escaped
his lips. At that moment the watchman, accompanied by a physician,
entered the room, and May remembered nothing more.




CHAPTER XII.

REPENTANCE.

When May recovered, she looked around her with an alarmed and
bewildered feeling. The darkened, tossed-up room; the stranger
watching beside her; the pale, silent form on the bed, so motionless
that the bed-clothes had settled around it like a winding-sheet, were
all so much like the continuation of a dreadful dream, that she
shuddered, and lifted herself up on her elbow.

"You are better?" inquired a kind voice.

"Have I been ill?" she asked.

"Not ill, exactly," replied the doctor; "you fainted just as I came in
with the watchman to your assistance." Then she remembered it all.