to him, for Thornton had bullied her into a great fear of the
consequences of disobeying his instructions; but she did not dare to
resist my orders. Accordingly I had a long interview with the unfortunate
man; he firmly believes that Thornton intends to murder him; and says,
that if he could escape from his dungeon, he would surrender himself up
to the first magistrate he could find.

"I told him that an innocent man had been apprehended for the crime of
which I knew he and Thornton were guilty; and then taking upon myself the
office of a preacher, I exhorted him to atone, as far as possible, for
his past crime, by a full and faithful confession; that would deliver the
innocent, and punish the guilty. I held out to him the hope that this
confession might perhaps serve the purpose of king's evidence, and obtain
him a pardon for his crime; and I promised to use my utmost zeal and
diligence to promote his escape from his present den.

"He said, in answer, that he did not wish to live; that he suffered the
greatest tortures of mind; and that the only comfort earth held out to
him would be to ease his remorse by a full acknowledgment of his crime,
and to hope for future mercy by expiating his offence on the scaffold;
all this, and much more, to the same purpose, the hen-hearted fellow
told me with sighs and groans. I would fain have taken his confession on
the spot, and carried it away with me, but he refused to give it to me,
or to any one but a parson, whose services he implored me to procure him.
I told him, at first, that the thing was impossible; but, moved by his
distress and remorse, I promised, at last, to bring one tonight, who
should both administer spiritual comfort to him and receive his
deposition. My idea at the moment was to disguise myself in the dress of
the pater cove, [Note: A parson, or minister--but generally applied to a
priest of the lowest order.] and perform the double job--since then I