nd with singular distinctness.

A poor boy, an orphan, had been engaged by Clarkson as a servant. Much
of the hard rough work about the kind of bush farm established by the
squatter, fell to his share; he was not ill fed, for Mrs. Clarkson saw
to that, but his promised wages never were paid. The lad complained to
his few acquaintance that nearly the whole sum due to him for two years'
service was still in his master's hands, and though he dared not let
Clarkson know that he had complained, he took courage, by their advice,
to threaten him with the law. One day soon after this, Clarkson and his
servant were both engaged loading a kind of raft, or flat boat, with
various produce for market. A dispute arose between them, the boy fell
or was pushed overboard, and though the creek was quite shallow, and he
was known to be able to swim, he was never seen from that time.

This was the story which had been whispered about until Mrs. Costello
heard it, and which now returned to her mind with horrible force. A
murderer, a double, a treble murderer--(for was not Christian dying from
the consequences of _his_ guilt?); she felt at that moment no
resignation, but a fierce desire to push aside all the cruel, complete,
_false_ evidence, and force justice to recognize the true criminal.

"Coward that I am!" she cried in her heart. "But I will at least do what
I can. To-morrow I will let the truth about myself be known, and try
whether that cannot be made to help me to the other truth. To-morrow,
to-morrow!"

She reached home exhausted, yet sustained by a new energy, and told
Lucia her story and her determination. To her, young and impatient of
the constant repression and concealment, this resolve was a welcome
relief; and they talked of it, and of the future together until they
half persuaded themselves that to restore to Christian his wife and
daughter would be but the beginning of a change which should restore him
both life and liberty.

CHAPTER XIII.

The arrival of letters at the Cottage was somewhat irregular and
uncertain. Mails from England and the States reached Cacouna in the
evening, and if a messenger was sent to the post-office the letters
could be had about an hour afterwards. Since Maurice had been in
England, the English mails were eagerly looked for, and Mr. Leigh never
failed to send at the very first moment when it was possible there might
be news of him. Lately Maurice's correspondence had been nearly eq