t she have told the truth?"

"The truth, eh! You must have the truth! The girl must tell the truth
for you! No matter if she was to blacken her soul before God, you
must have the truth told for you. The truth! It was not enough for you
to know that the girl loved you, with her heart, with her life, that
she would have died for you if she might! No. The poor girl must tear
out the secret lining of her heart for you, to save you!

"Think you that if _mon Rafe_ was alive and stood there where you
stood, in peril of his life; think you that he would ask me to give up
the secret of the Holy Confession to save him. _Non!_ _Mon Rafe_ was a
_man_! He would die, telling me to keep that which God had trusted me
with!

"Name of a Woodchuck! Who were you to be saved; that the Good God must
come down from His Heaven to break the Seal of the Unopened Book for
_you_!

"You ask for truth! _Tiens!_ I will tell you truth!

"You sat in the place of the prisoner and cried that you were an
innocent man. _Mon Rafe_ was the guilty man. The whole world must come
forth, the secrets of the grave must come forth to declare you
innocent and him guilty! You were innocent! You were persecuted! The
earth and the Heaven must come to show that you were innocent and he
was guilty! _Bah!_ _You were as guilty as he!_

"I was there. I saw. Your finger was on the trigger. You only waited
for the man to stop moving. Murder was in your heart. Murder was in
your soul. Murder was in your finger. But you were innocent and _mon
Rafe_ was guilty. By how much?

"By one second. That was the difference between _mon Rafe_ and you.
Just that second that he shot before you were ready. _That_ was the
difference between you the innocent man and _mon Rafe_!

"You were guilty. In your heart you were guilty. In your soul you were
guilty. M'sieur Cain himself was not more guilty than you!

"You were more guilty than _mon Rafe_, for he had suffered more from
that man. He was hunted. He was desperate, crazy! You were cool. You
were ready. Only _mon Rafe_ was a little quicker, because he was
desperate. Before the Good God you were more guilty.

"And _mon Rafe_ must be blackened more than the fire had blackened his
poor body. And the poor Ruth must break the Holy Secret. And the good
M'sieur the Bishop must break his holiest oath. All to make you
innocent!

"Bah! _Innocent!_"

She flung away from him and ran up the hill. Cynthe had not said quite
all that she inte