lanced at it curiously, and as they saw
Ned sitting by the side of the men who were known as his champions they
hurried away to spread the news that young Sankey had been acquitted.

The hard look died out of Ned's face as the door opened, and Lucy sprang
out and threw her arms round his neck and cried with delight at seeing
him; and Abijah, crying too, greeted him inside with a motherly welcome.
A feeling of relief came across his mind as he entered the sitting room.
Dr. Green, who was one of the trustees in the marriage settlement, had,
in the inability of Mrs. Mulready to give any orders, taken upon himself
to dispose of much of the furniture, and to replace it with some of an
entirely different fashion and appearance. The parlor was snug and cosy;
a bright fire blazed on the hearth; a comfortable armchair stood beside
it; the room looked warm and homely. Ned's two friends had followed him
in, and tears stood in both their eyes.

"Welcome back, dear boy!" Mr. Porson said, grasping his hand. "God grant
that better times are in store for you, and that you may outlive this
trial which has at present darkened your life. Now we will leave you
to your brother and sister. I am sure you will be glad to be alone with
them."

And so Ned took to the life he had marked out for himself. In two
months he seemed to have aged years. The careless look of boyhood had
altogether disappeared from his face. Except from his two friends he
rejected all sympathy. When he walked through the streets of Marsden
it was with a cold, stony face, as if he were wholly unaware of the
existence of passersby. The thought that as he went along men drew aside
to let him pass and whispered after he had gone, "That is the fellow
who murdered his stepfather, but escaped because they could not bring it
home to him," was ever in his mind. His friends in vain argued with him
against his thus shutting himself off from the world. They assured him
that there were very many who, like themselves, were perfectly convinced
of his innocence, and who would rally round him and support him if he
would give them the least encouragement, but Ned shook his head.

"I dare say what you say is true," he would reply; "but I could not do
it--I must go on alone. It is as much as I can bear now."

And his friends saw that it was useless to urge him further.

On the day after his return to Marsden Luke Marner and Bill Swinton
came back on the coach from York, and after it was