. Inquiry was made
as to the purchase of life-preservers, and the reverend gentleman was
taken to half-a-dozen shops at which such instruments had lately been
sold. But there had been a run upon life preservers, in consequence
of recommendations as to their use given by certain newspapers;--and
it was found as impossible to trace one particular purchase as it
would be that of a loaf of bread. At none of the half-dozen shops to
which he was taken was Mr. Emilius remembered; and then all further
inquiry in that direction was abandoned, and Mr. Emilius was set at
liberty. "I forgive my persecutors from the bottom of my heart," he
said,--"but God will requite it to them."

In the meantime Phineas was taken to Newgate, and was there confined,
almost with the glory and attendance of a State prisoner. This was no
common murder, and no common murderer. Nor were they who interested
themselves in the matter the ordinary rag, tag, and bobtail of the
people,--the mere wives and children, or perhaps fathers and mothers,
or brothers and sisters of the slayer or the slain. Dukes and Earls,
Duchesses and Countesses, Members of the Cabinet, great statesmen,
Judges, Bishops, and Queen's Counsellors, beautiful women, and
women of highest fashion, seemed for a while to think of but little
else than the fate of Mr. Bonteen and the fate of Phineas Finn.
People became intimately acquainted with each other through similar
sympathies in this matter, who had never before spoken to or seen
each other. On the day after the full committal of the man, Mr. Low
received a most courteous letter from the Duchess of Omnium, begging
him to call in Carlton Terrace if his engagements would permit him
to do so. The Duchess had heard that Mr. Low was devoting all his
energies to the protection of Phineas Finn; and, as a certain friend
of hers,--a lady,--was doing the same, she was anxious to bring them
together. Indeed, she herself was equally prepared to devote her
energies for the present to the same object. She had declared to
all her friends,--especially to her husband and to the Duke of St.
Bungay,--her absolute conviction of the innocence of the accused man,
and had called upon them to defend him. "My dear," said the elder
Duke, "I do not think that in my time any innocent man has ever lost
his life upon the scaffold."

"Is that a reason why our friend should be the first instance?" said
the Duchess.

"He must be tried according to the laws of his c