weresharp and fixed; its hue was changed; it was livid and moveless, like aface cut in gray stone. He staggered back a little and a little more, andthen a little more, and fell backward. Fortunately, the chair in which hehad been sitting received him, and he lay there insensible as a corpse.When at last his eyes opened, there was no gleam of triumph, no shade ofanger, nothing perceptible of guilt or menace, in the young woman'scountenance. The flush had returned to her cheeks; her dimpled chin hadsunk upon her full white throat; sorrow, shame, and pride seemedstruggling in her handsome face, and she stood before him like abeautiful penitent, who has just made a strange and humbling shrift toher father confessor.
Next day, Marston was mounting his horse for a solitary ride through hispark, when Doctor Danvers rode abruptly into the courtyard from the backentrance. Marston touched his hat, and said--
"I don't stand on forms with you, doctor, and you, I know, will waiveceremony with me. You will find Mrs. Marston at home."
"Nay, my dear sir," interrupted the clergyman, sitting firm in hissaddle, "my business lies with you today."
"The devil it does!" said Marston, with discontented surprise.
"Truly it does, sir," repeated he, with a look of gentle reproof, for theprofanity of Marston's ejaculation, far more than the rudeness of hismanner, offended him; "and I grieve that your surprise should havesomewhat carried you away--"
"Well, then, Doctor Danvers," interrupted Marston, drily, and withoutheeding his concluding remark, "if you really have business with me, itis, at all events, of no very pressing kind, and may be as well toldafter supper as now. So, pray, go into the house and rest yourself: wecan talk together in the evening."
"My horse is not tired," said the clergyman, patting his steed's neck;"and if you do not object, I will ride by your side for a short time, andas we go, I can say out what I have to tell."
"Well, well, be it so," said Marston, with suppressed impatience, andwithout more ceremony, he rode slowly along the avenue, and turned offupon the soft sward in the direction of the wildest portion of his woodeddemesne, the clergyman keeping close beside him. They proceeded somelittle way at a walk before Doctor Danvers spoke.
"I have been twice or thrice with that unhappy man," at length he said.
"What unhappy man? Unhappiness is no distinguishing singularity, is it?"said Marston, sharply.
"No, truly, you have well said," replied Doctor Danvers. "True it is thatman is born unto trouble as the sparks fly upward. I speak, however, ofyour servant, Merton--a most unhappy wretch."
"Ha! you have been with him, you say?" replied Marston, with evidentinterest and anxiety.
"Yes, several times, and conversed with him long and gravely," continuedthe clergyman.
"Humph! I thought that had been the chaplain's business, not yours, mygood friend," observed Marston.
"He has been unwell," replied Dr. Danvers; "and thus, for a day or two,I took his duty, and this poor man, Merton, having known something of me,preferred seeing me rather than a stranger; and so, at the chaplain'sdesire and his, I continued my visits."
"Well, and you have taught him to pray and sing psalms, I suppose; andwhat has come of it all?" demanded Marston, testily.
"He does pray, indeed, poor man! and I trust his prayers are heard withmercy at the throne of grace," said his companion, in his earnestnessdisregarding the sneering tone of his companion. "He is full ofcompunction, and admits his guilt."
"Ho! that is well--well for himself--well for his soul, at least; you aresure of it; he confesses; confesses his guilt?"
Marston put his question so rapidly and excitedly, that the clergymanlooked with a slight expression of surprise; and recovering himself, headded, in an unconcerned tone--
"Well, well--it was just as well he did so; the evidence is too clear fordoubt or mystification; he knew he had no chance, and has taken theseemliest course; and, doubtless, the best for his hopes hereafter."
"I did not question him upon the subject," said Doctor Danvers; "I evendeclined to hear him speak upon it at first; but he told me he wasresolved to offer no defense, and that he saw the finger of God in thefate which had overtaken him."
"He will plead guilty, then, I suppose?" suggested Marston, watching thecountenance of his companion with an anxious and somewhat sinister eye.
"His words seem to imply so much," answered he; "and having thus franklyowned his guilt, and avowed his resolution to let the law take its duecourse in his case, without obstruction or evasion, I urged him tocomplete the grand work he had begun, and to confess to you, or to someother magistrate fully, and in detail, every circumstance connected withthe perpetration of the dreadful deed."
Marston knit his brows, and rode on for some minutes in silence. Atlength he said, abruptly--
"In this, it seems to me, sir, you a little exceeded your commission."
"How so, my dear sir?" asked the clergyman.
"Why, sir," answered Marston, "the man may possibly change his mindbefore the day of trial, and it is the hangman's office, not yours, mygood sir, to fasten the halter about his neck. You will pardon myfreedom; but, were this deposition made as you suggest, it wouldundoubtedly hang him."
"God forbid, Mr. Marston," rejoined Danvers, "that I should induce theunhappy man to forfeit his last chances of escape, and to shut the doorof human mercy against himself, but on this he seems already resolved; hesays so; he has solemnly declared his resolution to me; and even againstmy warning, again and again reiterated the same declaration."
"That I should have thought quite enough, were I in your place, withoutinviting a detailed description of the whole process by which thisdetestable butchery was consummated. What more than the simple knowledgeof the man's guilt does any mortal desire; guilty, or not guilty, is theplain question which the law asks, and no more; take my advice, sir, as apoor Protestant layman, and leave the acts of the confessional andinquisition to Popish priests."
"Nay, Mr. Marston, you greatly misconceive me; as matters stand, thereexists among the coroner's jury, and thus among the public, some faintand unfounded suspicion of the possibility of Merton's having had anaccessory or accomplice in the perpetration of this foul murder."
"It is a lie, sir--a malignant, d----d lie--the jury believe no suchthing, nor the public neither," said Marston, starting in his saddle, andspeaking in a voice of thunder; "you have been crammed with lies, sir;malicious, unmeaning, vindictive lies; lies invented to asperse myfamily, and torture my feelings; suggested in my presence by thatscoundrel Mervyn, and scouted by the common sense of the jury."
"I do assure you," replied Doctor Danvers, in a voice which seemedscarcely audible, after the stunning and passionate explosion ofMarston's wrath, "I did not imagine that you could feel thus sorely uponthe point; nay, I thought that you yourself were not without suchpainful doubts."
"Again, I tell you, sir," said Marston, in a tone somewhat calmer, but noless stern, "such doubts as you describe have no existence; yourunsuspecting ear has been alarmed by a vindictive wretch, an oldscoundrel who has scarce a passion left but spite towards me; few suchthere are, thank God; few such villains as would, from a man's verycalamities, distil poison to kill the peace and character of his family."
"I am sorry, Mr. Marston," said the clergyman, "you have formed so ill anopinion of a neighbor, and I am very sure that Mr. Mervyn meant you noill in frankly expressing whatever doubts still rested on his mind, afterthe evidence was taken."
"He did--the scoundrel!" said Marston, furiously striking his hand, inwhich his whip was clutched, upon his thigh; "he did mean to wound andtorture me; and with the same object he persists in circulating what hecalls his doubts. Meant me no ill, forsooth! why, my great God, sir,could any man be so stupid as not to perceive that the suggestion of suchsuspicions--absurd, contradictory, incredible as they were--wasprecisely the thing to exasperate feelings sufficiently troubledalready, and not content with raising the question, where it was scouted,as I said, as soon as named, the vindictive slanderer proceeds to
propagate and publish his pretended surmises--d----n him."
"Mr. Marston, you will pardon me when I say that, as a Christianminister, I cannot suffer a spirit so ill as that you manifest, andlanguage so unseemly as that you have just uttered, to pass unreproved,"said Danvers, solemnly. "If you will cherish those bitter and unchristianfeelings, at least for the brief space that I am with you, command yourfierce, unbecoming words."
Marston was about to make a sneering retort, but restrained himself, andturned his head away.
"The wretched man himself appears now very anxious to make some