aside--that would be pleasant for neither you nor for me. To have a
connection gibbeted for a willful murder would be an ugly blot on the
Carlyle escutcheon, Cornelia."

Miss Carlyle sat in silence revolving the news, a contraction on her
ample brow.

"And now you know all, Cornelia, and I do beg you to leave me, for I am
overwhelmed with work to-day."



CHAPTER VI.

RICHARD HARE, THE YOUNGER.

The bench of justices did not fail to keep their appointment; at seven
o'clock they arrived at Miss Carlyle's, one following closely upon
the heels of another. The reader may dissent from the expression "Miss
Carlyle's," but it is the correct one, for the house was hers, not her
brother's; though it remained his home, as it had been in his father's
time, the house was among the property bequeathed to Miss Carlyle.

Miss Carlyle chose to be present in spite of the pipes and the smoke,
and she was soon as deep in the discussion as the justices were. It was
said in the town, that she was as good a lawyer as her father had been;
she undoubtedly possessed sound judgment in legal matters, and quick
penetration. At eight o'clock a servant entered the room and addressed
his master.