o do I."

"What! you've been speaking to _him_? You must be mad. The man's a
murderer. It's awful!"

"You shouldn't judge him before he has been tried."

"The evidence is the same now as it will be then. There was a nugget of
a strange shape, which a digger sold to poor Isaac Zahn, and it was
found on your precious Scarlett when he was arrested."

Rose made no answer.

"And to think," Rachel continued, "that I was almost engaged to him."

"I never heard that," said Rose, coldly.

"My dear, I'm thankful to say nobody did, but he used to come regularly
to our house when he was in town, and my stupid old father used to
encourage him. Such an escape I never had. Fancy being married to a
murderer. Ugh!"

"There's no need to fancy anything of the sort. You couldn't have
married him till he asked you."

"But, dear, if he _had_, I should have accepted him. You know, he is so
handsome. And he is awfully rich. My father wouldn't have heard of my
refusing him. Certainly, he's not of our religion, but then we're not
very orthodox. I'm afraid I should have accepted him: I'm sure I should.
And then, think of poor Isaac. I really _was_ fond of him. I know it
now; but he was _so_ slow in making money--I couldn't waste all my life
in waiting."

"You must feel his death dreadfully," said Rose.

"But it doesn't comfort me very much, when my friends go to see his
murderer."

"I haven't been to see a murderer."

"Good gracious! If that awful Scarlett didn't murder him, who did?"

"I haven't the least idea, but I feel sure there's been a mistake on the
part of the police."

"There's no mistake: they found the bodies yesterday in the bush."

As Rachel spoke, the two girls saw a strange procession coming down the
street.

"Look!" cried Rachel, seizing Rose's arm for support. "Look what is
coming."

In single file, slowly the searchers were carrying the bodies of the
murdered men, wrapped in canvas and strapped to poles cut from the
forest trees. As they advanced, a crowd, bare-headed and at every step
increasing, accompanied the doleful procession. They passed the spot
where stood the two girls, the one supporting the other, and so
disappeared out of sight.

CHAPTER XXXVII.

Benjamin's Redemption.

The Supreme Court sat in the large hall of the wooden building, ornate
with all the decorations of the Elizabethan style, which has been
referred to in these pages as the Red Tape Office.

The hall was divided