As the noise of the wheels grew fainter, the sad miserere bells rang out the quarter past midnight.
On the following morning Patouchki, with an unusual light in his eyes, and a cruel smile on his lips, wrote out the telegraphic cable, that sounded the death-knell to Vladimir Mellikoff's love and hope.
CHAPTER XIII.
NO EXPLANATION.
Not many hours passed after that dramatic scene in the court-room, in which the Italian, Mattalini, played so conspicuous a part, before ample confirmation of his statement came over the ocean telegraph, establishing beyond all question of doubt the arrest of the real Adèle Lamien, and the innocence of Patricia Hildreth.
As John Mainwaring had said, his theory once confirmed, all shred of suspicion must, as a matter of course, fall from her, and she would re-enter society's world stainless in character and reputation. At the end of the second day's examination, however, she returned voluntarily to Ludlow Street Jail, refusing with decision the conditional liberty bestowed upon her.
"I had much rather wait," she said to John Mainwaring. "Please, Mr. Mainwaring, do not urge me to go against my conscience. You can surely understand my feeling in this matter. I will not leave what has been my prison, until my innocence is unqualifiedly established, and until those who forced me into this position are convinced of its falsity. After a week's experience of the delights of Ludlow Street, what can a few additional hours matter?"
She finished with one of her rare smiles, which made John Mainwaring again realise the utter futility of his eloquence, when pitted against the charm of her loveliness.
So Patricia returned to her house of detention, and John Mainwaring left her at the entrance thereto, with a more cheerful look upon his dark countenance than had visited it for many a day.