The dreaded leeches had done their work.
She, whom everybody had called sweet, looked sweeter now than ever.

Death had been kind to the child at the last, and had stroked away every trace of terror, and of the short anguish she had suffered when she felt herself cast off by the craven soul she trusted.

What might the long anguish have been had she lived! [Illustration: HIS UNSELFISH LOVE FOUND A MELANCHOLY RECOMPENSE.].