n his eye met that of Middleton, he was answered by the
latter--

"If the evil-doer is to be punished, and he that has offended none to
be left to go at large, you must change situations with me, and become a
prisoner instead of a judge."

"You mean to say that I have done you wrong, in taking the lady from her
father's house, and leading her so far against her will into these wild
districts," returned the unmoved squatter, who manifested as little
resentment as he betrayed compunction at the charge. "I shall not put
the lie on the back of an evil deed, and deny your words. Since things
have come to this pass between us, I have found time to think the matter
over at my leisure, and though none of your swift thinkers, who can see,
or who pretend to see, into the nature of all things, by a turn of the
eye, yet am I a man open to reason, and give me my time, one who is not
given to deny the truth. Therefore have I mainly concluded, that it
was a mistake to take a child from its parent, and the lady shall be
returned whence she has been brought, as tenderly and as safely as man
can do it."

"Ay, ay," added Esther, "the man is right. Poverty and labour bore hard
upon him, especially as county officers were getting troublesome, and
in a weak moment he did the wicked act; but he has listened to my words,
and his mind has got round again into its honest corner. An awful and a
dangerous thing it is to be bringing the daughters of other people into
a peaceable and well-governed family!"

"And who will thank you for the same, after what has been already
done?" muttered Abiram, with a grin of disappointed cupidity, in which
malignity and terror were disgustingly united; "when the devil has once
made out his account, you may look for your receipt in full only at his
hands."

"Peace!" said Ishmael, stretching his heavy hand towards his kinsman,
in a manner that instantly silenced the speaker. "Your voice is like a
raven's in my ears. If you had never spoken, I should have been spared
this shame."

"Since then you are beginning to lose sight of your errors, and to
see the truth," said Middleton, "do not things by halves, but, by
the generosity of your conduct, purchase friends who may be of use in
warding off any future danger from the law--"

"Young man," interrupted the squatter, with a dark frown, "you, too,
have said enough. If fear of the law had come over me, you would not be
here to witness the manner in which Ishmael