I did right not to answer
him. A hundred times I have vowed I would not turn a finger to
save his life, and God heard and knew my vow. He delivered him
into my hand; he let me see the end of the wicked. I am not to
blame! I am not to blame!" Then said an interior voice, that he
had not silenced, "Go and tell the sheriff what has happened."

Liot turned home at this advice. Why should he speak now? Bele was
dead and buried; let his memory perish with him. He summoned from
every nook of his being all the strength of the past, the present,
and the future, and with a resolute hand lifted the latch of the
door. Karen threw down her knitting and ran to meet him; and when
he had kissed her once he felt that the worst was over. Paul asked
him about the house, and talked over his plans and probabilities,
and after an interval he said:

"I saw Bele Trenby's ship was ready for sea at the noon hour; she
will be miles away by this time. It is a good thing, for Mistress
Sabiston may now come to reason."

"It will make no odds to us; we shall not be the better for Bele's
absence."

"I think differently. He is one of the worst of men, and he makes
everything grow in Matilda's eyes as he wishes to. Lerwick can well
spare him; a bad man, as every one knows."

"A man that joys the devil. Let us not speak of him."

"But he speaks of you."

"His words will not slay me. Kinsman, let us go to sleep now; I am
promised to the fishing with the early tide."

But Liot could not sleep. In vain he closed his eyes; they saw more
than he could tell. There were invisible feet in his room; the air
was heavy with presence, and full of vague, miserable visions; for
"Wickedness, condemned by her own witness, is very timorous, and,
being pressed with Conscience, always forecasteth grievous things."

When Bele stepped into his grave there had been a bright moonlight
blending with the green, opalish light of the aurora charging to the
zenith; and in this mysterious mingled glow Liot had seen for a
moment the white, upturned face that the next moment went down with
open eyes into the bottomless water. Now, though the night had
become dark and stormy, he could not dismiss the sight, and anon
the Awful One who dwelleth in the thick darkness drew near, and for
the first time in his life Liot Borson was afraid. Then it was that
his deep and real religious life came to his help. He rose, and
stood with clasped hands in the middle of the room, and began