with a countenance on which horror was depicted, he sat like a statue, staring upon vacancy. At that exact moment the door opened, and Hannah Graham entered; pale and shaken too; but never dreaming of the accident that had happened from her delay, and resolved to strain every effort to conceal her guilt from her husband. In pursuance of which determination, assuming the most off-hand air she could command, she addressed him the instant she had set her foot over the threshold, with “Oh, Geordie, man, what do you think's the news that's come down by the paper from London? Why, what's the matter?" she added, as she observed the fearful expression of his fixed and pallid features. "Has Sally told you what has happened?" "What has happened, woman!" cried Geordie, as he slowly and rigidly rose from his seat, "there's that happened that 'll make us two twain. Oh, woman! I'd sooner have walked after you to the churchyard, than we should both have lived to see this day!" And so saying, he flung the crushed paper—crushed into a ball by the energy of his indignant grasp to the ground, and left the room. CHAPTER XXXVII. 66 Sæpe premente Deo fert Deus alter opem." "After sharp showers, the sun shines fair, WHEN William Bell, previous to his being committed to prison, was examined before the magistrates, no new evidence was adduced against him, nor were any fresh circumstances elicited that tended to prove him guilty of the death of Sir John Eastlake. Nevertheless, the presumptive evidence appeared so strong, that few people entertained the least doubt of his being the criminal, although many pitied him, and were inclined to weigh his provocation against his crime. Peggy, however, was one of the few who were satisfied of his innocence. He had told her he was innocent, and that was enough for her; and, indeed, had she been convinced of his guilt, her love would have been no whit shaken, nor would her devotion to his person, nor her fidelity to his interests, have been in the smallest degree diminished. Mr. Mirliflor respected William more than he liked him; the old man loved Peggy so much that he did not know how to excuse his want of tenderness and sympathy for her sufferings. "L'amour," as he said, "ne se commande pas; il aime une autre cela s'entend; mais, la pitié, la douceur, les consolations de l'amitié, la consideration pour son sexe, la reconnaissance qui est due a un cœur qui se donne tout entier, et qui demande si peu en revanche,-ah! y manquer, c'est de la dureté." "He can't help it, I suppose," said Peggy, when she succeeded in comprehending these strictures; "and he's not grateful to me for loving him, because he don't want me to love him; besides, he knows I can't help myself;" for Peggy had picked up some of her father's philosophy, and was disposed to make great allowances for human weaknesses and imperfections, on the score of people not being able to help themselves. "Bien, c'est vrai," replied Mr. Mirliflor, "mais ce n'est pas généreux. Il a ses faiblesses aussi-lui; et il doit compatir les tiens; surtout, quand la force est avec lui; et toi-tu n'est qu'une femme aimante et faible." "Well, but father, never mind me now! Will you try and get a lawyer for him at his trial? and as I said before, I'll stay with you as long as you like, and sing for you; and all the money I earn, I'll give you." "Chère enfant!" said the old man, patting her on the head, "you know I do what you wish; you stay with me, c'est bon-that make me happy; for the money, bah! you shall have all I got." "They say there'll be plenty of lawyers down here when the judges come to try the prisoners, and then we can choose one. And now, father, let us go out and sing in front of the prison. I do think that was his hand that was put through the bars yesterday; don't you ?" "I don't know one hand from another, mon enfant," replied Mr. Mirliflor. "Je n'ai pas les yeux d'amour; qui, cependant, n'en a point, à ce qu'on dit; et moi-je le crois." "What do you believe, father?" "That love has no eyes, enfant." "I suppose they're in his heart," answered Peggy. "Cela se peut," said the old man,—“ d'où vient qu'il voit ce qu'il aime, au lieu d'aimer ce qu'il voit." At length the eventful period arrived, which harbingered the doom of many an anxious heart; the judges and the sheriffs made their entrée; the city swarmed with lawyers and witnesses, actors and singers, prisoners and parsons, lords and ladies, county belles and beaux, milliners and dress-makers, hairdressers and fiddlers; some to judge, some to be judged; some to preach, some to play; some to dress, some to be dressed; some to dance, and some to be hanged; forming a perfect epitome of human life in this motley world, where dancing and death, surfeit and starvation, births and burials, murders and marriages, music and mourning, gladness and gloom, are all in such close juxtaposition, and so curiously and grotesquely jumbled together, that it would be a convenience if nature had bethought herself of constructing our faces |