amiable intentions to him then he thought a moment and added but you mentioned one pray do you mean the gentleman whose signature appears here and he handed her another document saying it quietly there is no hurry the good is not starving yet i am informed indeed that he has just made an excellent breakfast � not his last by many thousands let us hope took the sheets and glanced at them then her intelligence awoke and she read on fiercely until her eye came to the well known signature at the foot of the last page she cast the roll down with a cry as though a serpent had sprung from its pages and bitten her i fear that you are pained said and no wonder for myself i have gone through such and know how they wound a generous nature that s why i showed you this document because i also am generous and wish to warn you against this young gentleman who i understand you is my son you see the who would betray his brother might even go a step further and betray his mother so if you take my advice you will keep an eye upon the young man also i am bound to remind you that it is more or less your own fault it is a most unlucky thing to curse a child before it is born � you remember the incident that curse has come home to with a vengeance what a warning against giving way to the passion of the moment him no longer she was thinking as s ie had never thought before at that moment as though by an inspiration there floated into her mind the words of the dead the plague i wish that i had caught it before for then i would have taken it to him in prison and they couldn t have treated him as they did was in prison and was to be starved to death for whatever might think he did not know the secret and therefore could not tell it and she � she had the plague on her she knew its symptoms well and its poison was burning in her every vein although she still could think and speak and walk well why not it would be no crime indeed if it was a crime she cared little it would be better that he should die of the plague in five days or i in two worked quickly as it often did with the full blooded i a meeting and a parting than that he should linger on starving for twelve or more and perhaps be tormented besides swiftly very swiftly came to her dreadful decision then she spoke in a hoarse voice what do you wish me to do i wish you to reason with your husband and to persuade him to cease from his obstinacy and to surrender to me the secret of the hiding place of s in that event so soon as i have proved the truth of what he tells me i undertake that he shall be set at liberty and that meanwhile he shall be well treated and if i will not or he will not or cannot then i have told you the alternative and to show you that i am not joking i will now write and sign the order then if you decline this mission or if it is fruitless i will hand it to the officer before your eyes � and within the next ten days or so let you know the results or witness them if you wish i will go she said but i must see him alone it is unusual he answered but provided you satisfy me that you carry no weapon i do not know that i need object so when had written his order and scattered dust on it from the box for he was a of neat and habits he himself with every possible courtesy to her husband s prison having ushered her into it with a cheerful friend van i bring you a visitor he locked the door upon them and patiently waited outside it matters not what passed within whether told her husband of her dread yet sacred purpose or did not tell him whether he ever learned of the of or did not learn it what were their parting words � their parting prayers all these things matter not indeed the last are too holy to be written let us bow our heads and them by in silence and let the reader imagine them as he will growing impatient at length unlocked the prison door and opened it to discover and her husband kneeling side by side in the centre of the room like the figures on some ancient marble monument they heard him and rose then folded his wife in his arms in a long last embrace and her held one hand above her head in blessing as with the other he pointed to the door so infinitely pathetic was this dumb show of farewell for no word as od between them while he was present that not only his but the questions that he meant to ask died upon the lips of try as he might he could not speak them here come he said and passed out at the door she turned to look and there in the centre of the room still stood her husband tears streaming from his eyes down a face radiant with an smile and his right hand lifted towards the heavens and so she left him presently and were together again in the little room i fear he said from what i saw just now that your mission has failed it has failed she answered in such a voice as might be dragged by an evil magic from the lips of a corpse he does not know the secret you seek and therefore 