d taken place,
speaking in high praise of Sir John Joram. 'And now my own, own wife, my
real wife, my beloved one, I have to call you so, perhaps for the last
time for years. If these men shall choose to think that I married that
woman, we shall have to be so parted that it would be better for us to
be in our graves. But even then I will not give up all hope. My father
has promised that the whole colony shall be ransacked till proof be
found of the truth. And then, though I shall have been convicted, I
shall be reinstated in my position as your husband. May God Almighty
bless you, and our boy, till I may come again to claim my wife and my
child without disgrace.'

The old man had made the promise. 'I would go myself,' said he, 'were it
not that Hester will want my support here.' For there had been another
promise made,--that by no entreaty, no guile, no force, should Hester be
taken from Folking to Chesterton.

Early on the third day Judge Bramber began his charge, and in doing so
he told the jury that it would occupy him about three hours. And in
exactly three hours' time he had completed his task. In summing up the
case he certainly was not 'flabby';--so little so, that he left no doubt
on the minds of any who heard him of the verdict at which he had himself
arrived. He went through the evidence of the four chief witnesses very
carefully, and then said that the antecedents of these people, or even
their guilt, if they had been guilty, had nothing to do with the case
except in so far as it might affect the opinion of the jury as to their
veracity. They had been called conspirators. Even though they had
conspired to raise money by threats, than which nothing could be more
abominable,--even though by doing so they should have subjected
themselves to criminal proceedings, and to many penalties,--that would
not lessen the criminality of the accused if such a marriage as that
described had in truth taken place. 'This,' said the judge, 'is so much
a matter of course that I should not insist upon it had it not been
implied that the testimony of these four persons is worth nothing
because they are conspirators. It is for you to judge what their
testimony is worth, and it is for you to remember that they are four
distinct witnesses, all swearing to the same thing.' Then he went into
the question of the money. There could be no doubt that the four persons
had come to England with the purpose of getting money out of the
accused