ty by
no criminal deed. He had not hidden the will in the book. He had
not interfered in the search. He had done nothing incompatible with
innocence. So it had been with him till he had been called upon,
without a moment having been allowed to him for thinking, to sign his
name to that declaration. The remembrance of this came to him as he
almost made up his mind to rise from his seat and pull the book down
from the shelf. And then another thought occurred to him. Could he
not tell Mr Griffith that he had discovered the document since he
had made that declaration,--that he had discovered it only on that
morning? But he had felt that a story such as that would receive no
belief, and he had feared to estrange his only friend by a palpable
lie. He had therefore said that there was no secret,--had said so
after a pause which had assured Mr Griffith of the existence of a
mystery,--had said so with a face which of itself had declared the
truth.

When the farmer left him he knew well enough that the man doubted
him,--nay, that the man was assured of his guilt. It had come to
be so with all whom he had encountered since he had first reached
Llanfeare. His uncle who had sent for him had turned from him; his
cousin had scorned him; the tenants had refused to accept him when
there certainly had been no cause for their rejection. Mr Apjohn from
the first had looked at him with accusing eyes; his servants were
spies upon his actions; this newspaper was rending his very vitals;
and now this one last friend had deserted him. He thought that if
only he could summon courage for the deed, it would be best for him
to throw himself from the rocks.

But there was no such courage in him. The one idea remaining to
him was to save himself from the horrors of a criminal prosecution.
If he did not himself touch the document, or give any sign of his
consciousness of its presence, they could not prove that he had known
of its whereabouts. If they would only find it and let him go! But
they did not find it, and he could not put them on its trace. As to
these wicked libels, Mr Griffith had asked him why he did not have
recourse to a court of law, and refute them by the courage of his
presence. He understood the proposition in all its force. Why did he
not show himself able to bear any questions which the ingenuity of a
lawyer could put to him? Simply because he was unable to bear them.
The truth would be extracted from him in the process. Though