"If," he said, brokenly, looking at Burr with the eyes of one who awaits a mortal blow, "you want--Madelon--it is not--too late.

She--I know how she feels--towards you." Burr turned white, as he stared at him.

"She--she was going to marry you!" he said with a sneer.
"Do--you know why ?" Burr shook his head, still staring at his cousin.
"It was the price of--your--acquittal." Burr did not move his eyes from Lot's face.

He looked as if he were reading something there writ in startling characters, against which his whole soul leaped up in incredulity.

"My God, I see!" he groaned out slowly, at length.