ar, from the
independent testimony of the ostler at Whitford, the friend who had
driven Sam, and the landlord of the Three Goblets, that there was not
more than time for the return exactly as described at the inquest; and
though the horse was swift and powerful, and might probably have been
driven at drunken speed, this was too entirely conjectural for anything
to be founded on it. Nor had the cheque by Bilson on the Whitford Bank
come in.

'Something must assuredly happen to exonerate the guiltless, it would
be profane to doubt,' said Dr. May continually to himself and to the
Wards; but Leonard's secret was a painful burthen that he could
scarcely have borne without sharing it with that daughter who was his
other self, and well proved to be a safe repository.

'That's my Leonard,' said Ethel. 'I know him much better now than any
time since the elf-bolt affair! They have not managed to ruin him
among them.'

'What do you call this?' said Dr. May, understanding her, indeed, but
willing to hear her thought expressed.

'Thankworthy,' she answered, with a twitching of the corners of her
mouth.

'You will suffer for this exaltation,' he said, sadly; 'you know you
have a tender heart, for all your flights.'

'And you know you have a soul as well as a heart,' said Ethel, as well
as the swelling in her throat would allow.

'To be sure, this world would be a poor place to live in, if admiration
did not make pity bearable,' said the Doctor; 'but--but don't ask me,
Ethel: you have not had that fine fellow in his manly patience before
your eyes. Talk of your knowing him! You knew a boy! I tell you,
this has made him a man, and one of a thousand--so high-minded and so
simple, so clearheaded and well-balanced, so entirely resigned and free
from bitterness! What could he not be? It would be grievous to see him
cut off by a direct dispensation--sickness, accident, battle; but for
him to come to such an end, for the sake of a double
murderer--Ethel--it would almost stagger one's faith!'

'Almost!' repeated Ethel, with the smile of a conqueror.

'I know, I know,' said the Doctor. 'If it be so, it will be right; one
will try to believe it good for him. Nay, there's proof enough in what
it has done for him already. If you could only see him!'

'I mean to see him, if it should go against him,' said Ethel, 'if you
will let me. I would go to him as I would if he were in a decline, and
with more reverence.'

'Don't tal