possessed of but one aim—a wild, mad resolution to escape forever from Gilbert Warrington’s power—even though to do this—to gain her freedom—she would only find it in the grave.

She wrung her white hands frantically.

“He has blighted my whole life, and I hate him!” she moaned. “I will escape from him now while I can. He will return here in the morning, and—and I must be gone. He has hounded me down, blackened my life with that awful story of disgrace and shame. I must get away from here, I must escape him, or I shall die indeed. He thinks me dead now, and indeed I would be if I had not had the strength and courage to empty the contents of the chloral bottle upon the floor when he pressed it to my[Pg 60] lips. I will try to escape; I must. I will go to Yorke Towers; it is there that I must seek for those papers, there, where Harold Arleigh—oh, Harold, Harold, my darling!—lived at the time to which Gilbert Warrington refers. For Yorke Towers was long in possession of the Arleighs. I think that is the real cause of Helen Yorke’s ill-concealed dislike for me. But outwardly she is my friend, and I am certain she can not refuse to aid me if I lay the case before her and beg her to do so. Even her jealousy of the Arleighs must disappear in the presence of this great calamity. Yes, I will go to Yorke Towers to-night, and Gilbert Warrington will never find me, never dream that I am hidden away at Yorke Towers, or that I still live!”

[Pg 60]

Her brain, dazed and weak, was incapable of sound reasoning. She was nearly bereft of reasoning powers, and on the very verge of insanity. Small wonder that her actions were henceforth those of a maniac. Had she only known it, there were true hearts and helping hands in the very next room, eager and anxious to strike a blow for her sake. But she did not know, and so, like many another short-sighted mortal, looked far away for that which was within her reach. And so the mad mistake was made which neither time nor endeavor could rectify. Slowly and feebly she staggered across the room. In her white robe she looked like a spirit. Her eyes fell upon a long, dark cloak which Doctor Danton had placed upon a chair, and which he had intended to wrap about[Pg 61] her when he would carry her out to the waiting carriage. She remembered in a hazy sort of way that she had heard Doctor Danton say something about his carriage in waiting at the rear entrance of The Oaks, and the swift determination formed itself within her brain to reach the carriage and order the driver to drive her over to Yorke Towers. Once there——

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