eared, my boy. Yes; that is my news. Thank God, Ned,
your innocence is proved."

Ned could not speak. For a minute he sat silent and motionless. Then he
bent forward and covered his face with his hands, and his lips moved as
he murmured a deep thanksgiving to God for this mercy, while Lucy and
Charlie, with cries of surprise and delight, leaped from the table,
and when Ned rose to his feet, threw their arms round his neck with
enthusiastic delight; while the doctor wrung his hand, and then, taking
out his pocket handkerchief, wiped his eyes, violently declaring, as he
did so, that he was an old fool.

"Tell me all about it, doctor. How has it happened? What has brought it
about?"

"Luke Marner came down to me at ten o'clock last night to tell me that
John Stukeley was dying, which I knew very well, for when I saw him in
the afternoon I saw he was sinking fast; but he told me, too, that the
man was anxious to sign a declaration before a magistrate to the effect
that it was he who killed your stepfather. I had my gig got out and
hurried away to Thompson's. The old fellow was rather crusty at being
called out on such a night, but to do him justice, I must say he went
readily enough when he found what he was required for, though it must
have given him a twinge of conscience, for you know he has never been
one of your partisans. However, off we drove, and got there in time.

"Stukeley made a full confession. It all happened just as we thought.
It had been determined by the Luddites to kill Mulready, and Stukeley
determined to carry out the business himself, convinced, as he says,
that the man was a tyrant and an oppressor, and that his death was not
only richly deserved, but that such a blow was necessary to encourage
the Luddites. He did not care, however, to run the risk of taking any of
the others into his confidence, and therefore carried it out alone, and
to this day, although some of the others may have their suspicions, no
one knows for certain that he was the perpetrator of the act.

"He had armed himself with a pistol and went down to the mill, intending
to shoot Mulready as he came out at night, but, stumbling upon the rope,
thought that it was a safer and more certain means. After fastening
it across the road he sat down and waited, intending to shoot your
stepfather if the accident didn't turn out fatal. After the crash,
finding that Mulready's neck was broken and that he was dead, he made
off home. He wishe