outrageous thing I ever heard of, Miss Allandale," he exclaimed, as he clasped her cold hand and looked regretfully into the heavy blue eyes raised to his. 
"I was sure you would come," she murmured, with a sigh of relief, but flushing for an instant beneath his ardent gaze, while her lips quivered with suppressed emotion, for his tone of sympathy had almost unnerved her. 
"Of course I would come--I would go to the ends of the earth to serve you," he began, eagerly. "I am filled with remorse when I think what you must have suffered and that I am responsible for your trouble, though unintentionally and unconsciously." 
"Yes, I am sure you could not have known that the money was counterfeit," said Edith, wearily. 
"And it was not," he quickly returned. "It is a genuine coin and negotiable anywhere." 
"But I was told by two different persons that it was spurious," Edith replied, in a tone of surprise. 
"Then you were misinformed in both cases, for I have had it tested at a bank, and it has been pronounced good," returned her companion. 
"You have had it tested? How can that be possible, when the grocer who caused me to be arrested has the money in his possession this moment?" the young girl exclaimed, in amazement. 
Royal Bryant smiled as he drew forth the half-eagle which he had received from Mr. Knowles, and laid it in her palm. 
"That is the five-dollar gold-piece that I gave you on Saturday evening," he remarked, in a quiet tone. 
"Have you seen the grocer? Did you get it from him?" Edith gasped. 
"No; an old client of mine brought it to me, about half an hour ago, in part payment of a debt which he owes me." 
"I do not understand--it cannot be the same," said Edith, with a look of perplexity. 
"But it is," was the smiling reply. "Look at it closely, and you will find some fresh scratches upon one side of it--do you see?" 
"Yes," the young girl admitted. 
"Very well; I made them with my penknife during a fit of absent-mindedness, while you were putting on your hat and shawl on Saturday evening," Royal Bryant explained. "It was all the money I had, excepting some large bills, and I was obliged to give it to you, even though I knew it was not a convenient form--one is so liable to lose such a small piece. I am sure I do not know what possessed me to deface it in the way I did," he continued, after a slight pause; "but there the marks are, fortunately, and I could swear to the coin among a hundred others of the same denomination." 
"Yes, I remember, now," Edith remarked, reflectively; "I noticed the gold-piece in your hands and that you were using your knife upon it; but how could it have come into the possession of your client? Surely the grocer would not have parted with it voluntarily, for it was all the proof he had against me." 
"No; my client, Mr. 

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