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290 BLACK SHEEP.themselves from the danger without, the unsuspectedruin yvas close beside them, always near,whollyunmoved.It had come, ithad happened;all was over, it did not matter how.no room forThere wasanger, no power of surprise orcuriosity left in her mind. As the goldenlocketwas produced, and the identity of the portraitwith that of the murdered man was sworn to, akind of vision came to her. She saw the brightspring morning oncemore, and the lonely bridge;she saw the river with the early sunlight upon it;she saw 'herself leaning over the parapet andlooking into the water, as the parcel she hadcarried thither with careful haste sank into thodepth and washidden. She saw herselfreturninghomeward, the dangerous link in the evidencedestroyed, passing by the archway, yvhere a boylay, whom she had pitied, even then, in her owngreat ancl terrible anguish. Ifanything could bestrange now, it yvould be strange to rememberyvhat he then had in his possession, to render allher precaution vain. But she couldnot feel it so,or think about it; all things yvere alike to herhenceforth, there yvas no strangeness or fami-