" and she dropped down as
she spoke; "here on my knees I go to you, an' before you spake, mark,
that through shame an' pain, an' sufferin', an' death, I'll stay by you,
an' with you. But, I now kneel to you--what I hardly ever did to God--an
for his sake, for God's sake, I ask you; oh say, say that you did not
kill the man in cowld blood; that's all! Make me sure of that, and I'm
happy."

"I think you're both mad," replied Donnel. "Did I say that I was a
murdherer? Why didn't you hear me out?"

"You needn't," returned Nelly; "I knew it since yestherday mornin'."

"So you think," he replied, "an' it's but nathural you should, I was
at the place this day, and seen where you dug the _Casharrawan_. I have
been strugglin' for years to keep this saicret, an' now it must come
out; but I'm not a murdherer."

"What saicret, father, if you're not a murdherer?" asked Sarah; "what
saicret; but there is not murder on you; do you say that?"

"I do say it; there's neither blood nor murdher on my head! but I know
who the murdherer is, an' I can keep the saicret no longer!"

Sarah laughed, and her eyes sparkled up with singular vividness.
"That'll do," she exclaimed; "that'll do; all's right now; you're not
a murdherer, you killed no man, aither in cowld blood or otherwise; ha!
ha! you're a good father; you're a good father; I forgive you all now,
all you ever did."

Nelly stood contemplating her husband with a serious, firm, but
dissatisfied look; her chin was supported upon her forefinger and thumb;
and instead of seeming relieved by the disclosure she had just heard,
which exonerated him from the charge of blood, she still kept her eyes
riveted upon him with a stern and incredulous aspect.

"Spake out, then," she observed coolly, "an' tell us all, for I am not
convinced."

Sarah looked as if she would have sprang at her.

"You are not convinced," she exclaimed; "you are not convinced! Do you
think he'd tell a lie on such a subject as this?" But no sooner had
she uttered the words than she started as if seized by a spasm. "Ah,
father," she exclaimed, "it's now your want of truth comes against you;
but still, still I believe you."

"Tell us all about it," said Nelly, coldly; "let us hear all."

"But you both promise solemnly, in the sight of God, never to breathe
this to a human being till I give yez lave."

"We do; we do," replied Sarah; "in the sight of God, we do."

"You don't spake," said he, addressing Nelly.

"