wonder? I must go back to Manchester
again to-morrow morning."

"Why, father?"

"Of course you have read the newspapers. You know what took place in
Manchester this morning?"

He spoke calmly and collectedly now. In one sense it seemed as though
a great burden had been lifted from his mind. From the way he spoke,
too, he might regard his confession as of little import.

"Father," cried the girl, "it's so bewildering, so terrible!"

"Yes, yes; I know. I've a great deal to tell you some time, Mary, but
not now. You see I've passed through a great deal during the last
twenty-four hours. All life has changed. What the future may bring
forth God only knows. But I've done the right thing now. I sometimes
think, Mary, that one of the greatest sins in life, the sin which leads
the way to more than any other, is that of cowardice; and I was a
coward. My God! what a coward I was! And I'm paying for it now. But
for that I might have been a happy man; I might have had----"

He rose to his feet as he spoke and walked across the room. He seemed
to be pondering deeply.

"Of course you despise me, Mary," he said. "You cannot help it.
Everyone despises me. It's right and natural. I needn't tell you any
further about it now, need I? You've read what is in the paper? You
understand?"

"Yes, I think, I--I--I think I understand. But, father, we must save
Paul! Whatever happens, we must save Paul!"

"If it is possible," said the judge. "For, oh! God helping me----
Yes, I should die! It would kill me if--if the worst comes to the
worst! That's why I came, Mary. I must have another talk with her. I
think after to-morrow I shall be free; but I must go to Manchester
then, perhaps to London. There are so many formalities to be complied
with. But never mind, formalities or no formalities, nothing must
stand in the way of his salvation."

"He's not guilty, father; you know that? He's been shielding someone
all the time. That's why he would have no one to defend him. That's
why he confided in no one. I'm sure of it!"

The judge nodded his head. He, too, had been thinking deeply, and his
trained mind had gone farther into the matter than that of Mary.

"Yes; I've been thinking of that," was his reply. "In fact, I felt
almost sure of it when I went to see him to-day."

"You've, been to see him to-day? What? Since what you said in the
court? What did he say? How did he look? Did he--did he----"