p from his chair and stood for a single
minute with a sense of violent convulsion in his whole frame, as if the
life were going out of him with horrible throbs; but the next minute he
had rushed out of the room, still clutching the letter--he was hurrying
along the corridor, and down the stairs into the hall. Mills was still
there, but Arthur did not see him, as he passed like a hunted man across
the hall and out along the gravel. The butler hurried out after him
as fast as his elderly limbs could run: he guessed, he knew, where the
young squire was going.

When Mills got to the stables, a horse was being saddled, and Arthur was
forcing himself to read the remaining words of the letter. He thrust
it into his pocket as the horse was led up to him, and at that moment
caught sight of Mills' anxious face in front of him.

"Tell them I'm gone--gone to Stoniton," he said in a muffled tone of
agitation--sprang into the saddle, and set off at a gallop.

Chapter XLV

In the Prison

NEAR sunset that evening an elderly gentleman was standing with his back
against the smaller entrance-door of Stoniton jail, saying a few last
words to the departing chaplain. The chaplain walked away, but the
elderly gentleman stood still, looking down on the pavement and stroking
his chin with a ruminating air, when he was roused by a sweet clear
woman's voice, saying, "Can I get into the prison, if you please?"

He turned his head and looked fixedly at the speaker for a few moments
without answering.

"I have seen you before," he said at last. "Do you remember preaching on
the village green at Hayslope in Loamshire?"

"Yes, sir, surely. Are you the gentleman that stayed to listen on
horseback?"

"Yes. Why do you want to go into the prison?"

"I want to go to Hetty Sorrel, the young woman who has been condemned
to death--and to stay with her, if I may be permitted. Have you power in
the prison, sir?"

"Yes; I am a magistrate, and can get admittance for you. But did you
know this criminal, Hetty Sorrel?"

"Yes, we are kin. My own aunt married her uncle, Martin Poyser. But I
was away at Leeds, and didn't know of this great trouble in time to get
here before to-day. I entreat you, sir, for the love of our heavenly
Father, to let me go to her and stay with her."

"How did you know she was condemned to death, if you are only just come
from Leeds?"

"I have seen my uncle since the trial, sir. He is gone back to his home
now, and t