of human mercy against himself, but on this he seems already resolved; he
says so; he has solemnly declared his resolution to me; and even against
my warning, again and again reiterated the same declaration."

"That I should have thought quite enough, were I in your place, without
inviting a detailed description of the whole process by which this
detestable butchery was consummated. What more than the simple knowledge
of the man's guilt does any mortal desire; guilty, or not guilty, is the
plain question which the law asks, and no more; take my advice, sir, as a
poor Protestant layman, and leave the acts of the confessional and
inquisition to Popish priests."

"Nay, Mr. Marston, you greatly misconceive me; as matters stand, there
exists among the coroner's jury, and thus among the public, some faint
and unfounded suspicion of the possibility of Merton's having had an
accessory or accomplice in the perpetration of this foul murder."

"It is a lie, sir--a malignant, d----d lie--the jury believe no such
thing, nor the public neither," said Marston, starting in his saddle, and
speaking in a voice of thunder; "you have been crammed with lies, sir;
malicious, unmeaning, vindictive lies; lies invented to asperse my
family, and torture my feelings; suggested in my presence by that
scoundrel Mervyn, and scouted by the common sense of the jury."

"I do assure you," replied Doctor Danvers, in a voice which seemed
scarcely audible, after the stunning and passionate explosion of
Marston's wrath, "I did not imagine that you could feel thus sorely upon
the point; nay, I thought that you yourself were not without such
painful doubts."