the mill to be ground, and was agoin' to wait all day to
fetch it home; and so I really did take the corn, and told the miller I
should come arter it this evening, and so I shall, and take it home all
right, accordin' to my word."

"That was a very politic proceeding, Joe; but how could you account to
them for the hamper you brought away, and which must have excited
suspicion, if not inquiry?"

"Bless you, sir, I wasn't fool enough to let them see the hamper. All
they saw was the two bags of corn as I rode out of the gate with. I had
filled the hamper on the sly, and hid it in the bushes by the road,
until I went by and picked it up."

"Still better, Joe! But your horse? what horse did you ride, and what
have you done with him?"

"I rode Dick, which I have tied him fast in the deep woods on the other
side of the river. I crossed over the rapids with the help of a pole,"
explained Joe.

While they were speaking, a step was heard crushing through the dried
brushwood, and in another moment Captain Pendleton, pale, sad, and
weary, stood before them.

CHAPTER XXIV.

THE VERDICT AND THE VISITOR.

Can such things be,
And overcome us like a summer cloud
Without our special wonder?--Shakespeare.

"Pendleton! oh! Heaven, Pendleton! What news?" exclaimed Lyon Berners,
starting up to greet him.

"Good heaven! Berners! How is this? Another--a servant taken into your
confidence, and trusted with the secret of your retreat!" cried Captain
Pendleton in dismay.

"He is trustworthy! I will vouch for his fidelity! But oh! Pendleton!
What news? what news?" exclaimed Lyon Berners in an agony of impatience.

"The worst that you can anticipate!" cried Captain Pendleton in a voice
full of sorrow.

"Oh! my unhappy wife! The coroner's jury have found their verdict then?"
groaned Lyon.

Captain Pendleton bowed his head. He was unable to reply in words.

"And that verdict is--Oh! speak I let me hear the worst!--that verdict
is--"

"Wilful Murder!" muttered Pendleton in a hoarse and choking voice.

"Against--against--whom?" gasped Lyon Berners white as death.

"Oh Heaven! _You know!_ Do not ask me to sully her name with the words!"
cried Captain Pendleton, utterly overcome by his emotions.

"Oh, my unhappy wife! Oh, my lost Sybil!" exclaimed Lyon Berners,
reeling under the blow, half-expected though it might have bee