CHAPTER XLI.

The lawyer came the next day, and with something like a smile on his lips.
He brought me a few lines in pencil from Mrs. Ashleigh; they were kindly
expressed, bade me be of good cheer; "she never for a moment believed in
my guilt; Lilian bore up wonderfully under so terrible a trial; it was an
unspeakable comfort to both to receive the visits of a friend so attached
to me, and so confident of a triumphant refutation of the hideous calumny
under which I now suffered as Mr. Margrave!"

The lawyer had seen Margrave again,--seen him in that house. Margrave
seemed almost domiciled there!

I remained sullen and taciturn during this visit. I longed again for the
night. Night came. I heard the distant clock strike twelve, when again
the icy wind passed through my hair, and against the wall stood the
luminous Shadow.

"Have you considered?" whispered the voice, still as from afar. "I repeat
it,--I alone can save you."

"Is it among the conditions which you ask, in return, that I shall resign
to you the woman I love?"

"No."

"Is it one of the conditions that I should commit some crime,--a crime
perhaps heinous as that of which I am accused?"

"No."