Chapter XL: In the Prison (3)

"No," she murmured, wearily; "unless it was because the ring he believed me to have retained was found on the scene of murder."

"Bah!" cried Mr. Gryce, "he had a much better reason than that."

And with the air of one who wishes to clear up all misunderstandings, he told her the words which her lover had overheard Mrs. Clemmens say when he came up to her dining-room door.

The effect on Imogene was very great. Hoping to hide it, she turned away her face, showing in this struggle with herself something of the strength of her old days. Mr. Gryce watched her with interest.

"It is very strange," was her first remark. "I had such reasons for thinking him guilty; he such good cause for thinking me so. What wonder we doubted each other. And yet I can never forgive myself for doubting him; I can sooner forgive him for doubting me. If you see him----"

"If _I_ see him?" interrupted the detective, with a smile.

"Yes," said she. "If you see him tell him that Imogene Dare thanks him for his noble conduct toward one he believed to be stained by so despicable a crime, and assure him that I think he was much more justified in his suspicions than I was in mine, for there were weaknesses in my character which he had ample opportunities for observing, while all that I knew of him was to his credit."

"Miss Dare," suggested the detective, "couldn't you tell him this much better yourself?"

"I shall not have the opportunity," she said.

"And why?" he inquired.

"Mr. Mansell and I have met for the last time. A woman who has stained herself by such declarations as I made use of in court the last time I was called to the stand has created a barrier between herself and all earthly friendship. Even he for whom I perjured myself so basely cannot overleap the gulf I dug between us two that day."

"But that is hard," said Mr. Gryce.

"My life _is_ hard," she answered.

The wise old man, who had seen so much of life and who knew the human heart so well, smiled, but did not reply. He turned instead to another subject.

"Well," he declared, "the great case is over! Sibley, satisfied with having made its mark in the world, will now rest in peace. I quit the place with some reluctance myself. 'Tis a mighty pretty spot to do business in."

"You are going?" she asked.

"Immediately," was the reply. "We detectives don't have much time to rest." Then, as he saw how deep a shadow lay upon her brow, added, confidentially: "Miss Dare, we all have occasions for great regret. Look at me now. Honest as I hold myself to be, I cannot blind myself to the fact that I am the possible instigator of this crime. If I had not shown Mr. Orcutt how a man like himself might perpetrate a murder without rousing suspicion, he might never have summoned up courage to attempt it. For a detective with a conscience, that is a hard thought to bear."

"But you were ignorant of what you were doing," she protested. "You had no idea there was any one present who was meditating crime."

"True; but a detective shouldn't be ignorant. He ought to know men; he has opportunity enough to learn them. But I won't be caught again. Never in any company, not if it is composed of the highest dignitaries in the land, will I ever tell again how a crime of any kind can be perpetrated without risk. One always runs the chance of encountering an Orcutt."

Imogene turned pale. "Do not speak of him," she cried. "I want to forget that such a man ever lived."

Mr. Gryce smiled again.

"It is the best thing you can do," said he. "Begin a new life, my child; begin a new life."

And with this fatherly advice, he said good-bye, and she saw his wise, kind face no more.

The hour that followed was a dreary one for Imogene. Her joy at knowing Craik Mansell was released could not blind her to the realization of her own ruined life. Indeed she seemed to feel it now as never before; and as the slow minutes passed, and she saw in fancy the strong figure of Mansell surrounded by congratulating admirers and friends, the full loneliness of her position swept over her, and she knew not whether to be thankful or not to the fever for having spared her blighted and dishonored life.

Mrs. Richmond, seeing her so absorbed, made no attempt at consolation. She only listened, and when a step was heard, arose and went out, leaving the door open behind her.

And Imogene mused on, sinking deeper and deeper into melancholy, till the tears, which for so long a time had been dried at their source, welled up to her eyes and fell slowly down her cheeks. Their touch seemed to rouse her. Starting erect, she looked quickly around as if to see if anybody was observing her. But the room seems quite empty, and she is about to sink back again with a sigh when her eyes fall on the door-way and she becomes transfixed. A sturdy form is standing there! A manly, eager form in whose beaming eyes and tender smile shine a love and a purpose which open out before her quite a different future from that which her fancy had been so ruthlessly picturing.

THE END.

PUBLICATIONS OF G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS.

=THE LEAVENWORTH CASE.= A Lawyer's Story. By ANNA
KATHERINE GREEN. 16mo, paper, 60 cents; cloth, $1.00.

"In one respect at least, 'The Leavenworth Case'
is the peer of Gaboriau's best efforts--the
wonderful skill with which the author draws the
reader, now this way, now that, in the search for
the perpetrator of the mysterious crime with which
the story begins, and deludes him until he reaches
almost the last page."--_New Haven Palladium._

"Wilkie Collins, in his best period, never
invented a more ingeniously constructed plot, nor
held the reader in such suspense until the final
denouement. The most blase novel-reader will be
unable to put aside 'The Leavenworth Case' until
he has read the last sentence and mastered the
mystery which has baffled him from the
beginning."--_N. Y. Express._

"She has proved herself as well able to write an
interesting story of mysterious crime as any man
living."--_The Academy, (London.)_

"She has worked up a _cause celebre_ with a
fertility of device and ingenuity of treatment
hardly second to Wilkie Collins or Edgar Allen
Poe."--_Christian Union._

"We have read no story for a long time which has
had so much of the Wilkie Collins, and Edgar Allen
Poe flavor of reality in the
telling."--_Congregationalist._

"We do not propose to give the plot of the work,
however, but merely to say that it is one of the
most ingenious of the kind we have ever
read."--_Buffalo Express._

"This is the sort of book to be eagerly read and
thoroughly enjoyed."--_St. Paul Pioneer._

"A new novel by a new writer, which enchains our
attention from the very first sentence of the
first page, is a pleasant surprise. * * * Told
with a force and power that indicate great
dramatic talent in the writer."--_St. Louis Post._

"Its interest is undoubted and it is thoroughly
well sustained."--_N. Y. Evening Post._

"The story is developed with great skill and shows
ingenuity of the highest order."--_Troy Times._

"A story of mystery and crime and is here narrated
with an artistic skill which inevitably holds the
interest of the reader, even to the point of the
highest tension, to the close of the last chapter.
* * * A real marvel of fiction."--_Davenport
Gazette._

=A STRANGE DISAPPEARANCE.= By ANNA KATHARINE GREEN.
16mo, paper, 50 cents, cloth, $1.00.

"The plot is marked with striking originality, and
the story is narrated with a vigor and power
rarely met in modern novels. It is deeply
interesting from beginning to end, and holds the
reader entranced from the moment the first page is
read until the last sentence is reached. It is, in
fact, a revelation in American romance-writing,
and we heartily commend it to the
public."--_Baltimore Gazette._

"Catches the fancy and chains the interest of the
reader to such a degree that he is unwilling to
lay it down until every page is
devoured."--_Toledo Journal._

"The author has chosen a department of fiction
where only the best writers succeed, but she has
shown herself capable of sustaining her role with
wonderful vigor."--_Boston Evening Traveller._

"It is an ingenious plot, admirably worked up, and
told so straightforward as to be wholly
pleasing."--_Chicago Inter-Ocean._

"One of the best police detective stories written
in America."--_Hartford Courant._

"Wilkie Collins would not be ashamed of the
construction of this story. * * * It keeps
the reader's close attention from first to
last."--_N. Y. Evening Post._

"A most ingenious and absorbingly interesting
story. The readers are held spell-bound till the
last page."--_Cincinnati Commercial._

"Ingenious in construction, powerful in dramatic
interest, and artistic in development."--_Boston
Gazette._

"A most intensely interesting work of fiction. The
story is developed with skill, and the work
written in a strong, powerful style."--_Augusta
(Me.) Farmer._

"The plot is new and sparkling, and the story is
carried to its denouement with an ingenuity and
brightness of manner that makes it impossible to
lay the volume down until completed. * * * It is a
marvel of fiction."--_Columbus Sunday Capital._

"The plot is very ingenious. * * * The interest in
the tale is remarkably well sustained until its
conclusion, and the mystery which envelopes the
principal character is concealed with a great deal
of artistic skill. * * * Shows a spirit of patient
research that speaks well for the industry of the
writer, and an analytical faculty rarely seen in a
woman."--_Boston Courier._

=X. Y. Z.= A Detective Story. By ANNA KATHARINE GREEN. 16mo,
paper, 25 cents.

"Well written and extremely exciting and
captivating. * * * She is a perfect genius in the
construction of a plot."--_N. Y. Commercial
Advertiser._

"Will keep the sleepiest reader wide-awake from
title to finis."--_Boston Transcript._

"An extremely interesting story, * * * the
development of the plot is kept well in hand, and
the denouement is as dramatic as any that could be
desired."--_Albany Argus._

=THE DEFENCE OF THE BRIDE=, and Other Poems. By ANNA
KATHARINE GREEN. Sq. 16mo, flex. cloth, $1.00.

"Written with a spirit and force that are
impressive."--_Congregationalist._

PUBLICATIONS OF G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS.

BAYARD TAYLOR'S NOVELS.

I. =Hannah Thurston.= A STORY OF AMERICAN LIFE
12mo. Household edition, $1.50

"If Bayard Taylor has not placed himself, as we
are half inclined to suspect, in the front rank of
novelists, he has produced a very remarkable
book--a really original story, admirably told,
crowded with life-like characters full of delicate
and subtle sympathies, with ideas the most
opposite to his own, and lighted up throughout
with that playful humor which suggests always
wisdom rather than mere fun."--_London Spectator._

II. =John Godfrey's Fortunes.= RELATED BY HIMSELF
12mo. Household edition, $1.50

"'John Godfrey's Fortunes,' without being
melodramatic or morbid, is one of the most
fascinating novels which we have ever read. Its
portraiture of American social life, though not
flattering, is eminently truthful; its delineation
of character is delicate and natural; its English,
though sometimes careless, is singularly grateful
and pleasant."--_Cleveland Leader._

III. =The Story of Kennett.= 12mo. Household
edition, $1.50

"Mr. Bayard Taylor's book is _delightful and
refreshing reading_, and great rest after the
crowded artistic effects and the conventional
interests of even the better kind of English
novels."--_London Spectator._

"As a picture of rural life, we think this novel
of Mr. Taylor's excels any of his previous
productions."--_N. Y. Evening Post._

"A tale of absorbing interest."--_Syracuse
Standard._

IV. =Joseph and his Friend.= A STORY OF PENNSYLVANIA
12mo. Household edition, $1.50

"In Bayard Taylor's happiest vein."--_Buffalo
Express._

"By far the best novel of the season."--_Cleveland
Leader._

V. =Beauty and the Beast= and =Tales of Home=. 12mo
Household edition, $1.50

Bayard Taylor's Complete Works.

=The Complete Works of Bayard Taylor.= In sixteen
volumes. Household edition, $24.00

=The Travels=, separate, eleven volumes. Household
edition, $16.50

The Novels, separate, five volumes, boards.
Cedarcroft edition, $6.25

* * * * *

Transcriber's note:

The original text had page v before pages iii and iv. This was rearranged in this edition. The List of Illustrations now follows the Table of Contents.

The text uses both "vail" and "veil," "depot" and "depot."

Obvious punctuation errors were corrected.

Page 17, "have'nt" changed to "haven't" (that haven't much)

Page 29, "vengance" changed to "vengeance" (May the vengeance of Heaven)

Page 138, "yon" changed to "you" (you would be likely)

Page 140, "notwithstandingt he" changed to "notwithstanding the" (notwithstanding the humiliating)

Page 221, "infinitesmal" changed to "infinitesimal" (an infinitesimal chip from)

Page 227, "obstancy" changed to "obstinacy" (selfishness and obstinacy)

Page 235, "Ferrris" changed to "Ferris" (cried Mr. Ferris, looking)

Page 267, "where" changed to "were" (you were when you)

Page 288, "desparing" changed to "despairing" (The despairing influence)

Page 326, "a" changed to "at" (I am boarding at present)

Page 402, "band" changed to "hand" (lay his hand upon)

Page 410, "unneccessary" changed to "unnecessary" (an unnecessary display)

Page 417, "his" changed to "is" (he is trying his influence)

Page 431, "disegarded" changed to "disregarded" (it shall be disregarded)

Page 462, "Sueh" changed to "Such" (Such--as--Gouvernour)

Page 526, "thumselves" changed to "themselves" (are amusing themselves)

Page 552, "sor" changed to "for" (promised little for an)

Page 558, "most" changed to "must" (one must also believe)

Page 565, "Gyrce" changed to "Gryce" (Mr. Gryce, with his usual)

Page 591, "surbordinates" changed to "subordinates" (his subordinates arose)