one! And you have said, 'I will prove this Mrs. Conroy an impostor,' and you are here. Well! I do not blame you. You are a man. It is well, perhaps, it is so."
"But Julie, hear me!" interrupted the alarmed Devarges.
"No more!" said Mrs. Conroy, rising and waving her thin white hand; "I do not blame you. I could not expect—I deserve no more! Go back to your client, sir; tell her that you have seen Julie Devarges, the impostor. Tell her to go on and press her claim, and that you will assist her. Finish the work that the anonymous letter-writer has begun, and earn your absolution for your crime and my folly. Get your reward, you deserve it; but tell her to thank God for having raised up to her better friends than Julie Devarges ever possessed in the heyday of her beauty! Go! Farewell. No! let me go, Henry Devarges, I am going to my husband. He at least has known how to forgive and protect a friendless and erring woman."
Before the astonished man could recover his senses, elusive as a sunbeam, she had slipped through his fingers and was gone. For a moment only he followed the flash of her white skirt through the dark aisles of the forest, and then the pillared trees, crowding in upon one another, hid her from view.
Perhaps it was as well, for a moment later Victor Ramirez, flushed, wild-eyed, disheveled and panting, stumbled blindly upon the trail, and blundered into Devarges' presence. The two men eyed each other in silence.
"A hot day for a walk," said Devarges, with an ill-concealed sneer.
"Vengeance of God! you are right—it is," returned Victor, "and you?"
"Oh, I have been fighting flies! Good day!"
CHAPTER XXXIV.
GABRIEL DISCARDS HIS HOME AND WEALTH.
I am sorry to say that Mrs. Conroy's expression as she fled was not entirely consistent with the grieved and heart-broken manner with which she just closed the interview with Henry Devarges. Something of a smile lurked about the corners of her thin lips as she tripped up the steps of her house, and stood panting a little with the exertion in the shadow of the porch. But here she suddenly found herself becoming quite faint, and, entering the apparently empty house, passed at once to her boudoir, and threw herself exhaustedly on the lounge with a certain peevish discontent at her physical weakness. No one had seen her enter; the Chinese servants were congregated in the distant wash-house. Her housekeeper had taken advantage of her absence to ride to the town. The unusual heat was felt to be an apology for any domestic negligence.
She was very thoughtful. The shock she had felt on first meeting Devarges was past; she was satisfied she still retained an influence over him sufficient to keep him her ally against Ramirez, whom she felt she now had reason to fear. Hitherto his jealousy had only shown itself in vaporing and bravado; she had been willing to believe him capable of offering her physical violence in his insane fury, and had not feared it; but this deliberately planned treachery made her tremble. She would see Devarges again; she would recite the wrongs she had received from the dead brother and husband, and in Henry's weak attempt to still his own conscience with that excuse, she could trust to him to keep Ramirez in check, and withhold the exposure until she and Gabriel could get away. Once out of the country she could laugh at them both; once away she could devote herself to win the love of Gabriel, without which she had begun to feel her life and schemes had been in vain. She would hurry their departure at once. Since the report had spread affecting the value of the mine, Gabriel, believing it true, had vaguely felt it his duty to stand by his doubtful claim and accept its fortunes, and had delayed his preparations. She would make him believe that it was Dumphy's wish that he should go at once; she would make Dumphy write him to that effect. She smiled as she thought of the power she had lately achieved over the fears of this financial magnate. She could do all this now—at once—but for her physical weakness. She ground her teeth as she thought of it; that at such a time she should be—ah!—and yet a moment later a sudden fancy flashed across her mind, and she closed her eyes that she might take in its delusive sweetness more completely. It might be that it wanted only this to touch his heart—some men were so strange—and if it were—oh, God!—she stopped.
What was that noise? The house had been very quiet, so still that she had heard a woodpecker tapping on its roof. But now she heard distinctly the slow, heavy tread of a man in one of the upper chambers, which had been used as a lumber-room. Mrs.
