"Oh, Harry!"--she burst into tears. "I cannot--I cannot. You ask me to

be a liar and a thief--oh! heavens!--a vile thief!

"It is too late, Iris! We are all vile thieves. It is too late to begin

crying now."

"Harry"--she threw herself upon her knees--"spare me! Let some other

woman go, and call herself your widow. Then I will go away and hide

myself."

"Don't talk nonsense, Iris," he replied roughly. "I tell you it is far

too late. You should have thought of this before. It is now all

arranged."

"I cannot go," she said.

"You must go; otherwise, all our trouble may prove useless."

"Then I will not go!" she declared, springing to her feet. "I will not

degrade myself any further. I will not go!"

Harry rose too. He faced her for a moment. His eyes dropped. Even he

remembered, at that moment, how great must be the fall of a woman who

would consent to play such a part.

"You shall not go," he said, "unless you like. You can leave me to the

consequences of my own acts--to my own degradation. Go back to England.

In one thing only spare me. Do not tell what you know. As for me, I

will forge a letter from you--"

"Forge a letter!"

"It is the only way left open, giving the lawyers authority to act, and

inclosing the will. What will happen next? By whose hands the money is

to reach me I know not yet. But you can leave me, Iris. Better that you

should leave me--I shall only drag you lower."

"Why must you forge the letter? Why not come with me somewhere--the

world is large!--to some place where you are not known, and there let

us begin a new life? We have not much money, but I can sell my watches

and chains and rings, and we shall have enough. O Harry! for once be

guided--listen to me! We shall find some humble manner of living, and

we may be happy yet. There is no harm done if you have only pretended

to be dead; nobody has been injured or defrauded--"

"Iris, you talk wildly! Do you imagine, for one moment, that the doctor

will release me from my bargain?"

"What bargain?"

"Why--of course he was to be paid for the part he has taken in the

business. Without him it could never have been done at all."




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