k I should."

"Is that good parson's law?"

"It's very good squire's law. And as for that doctrine of
non-retaliation, a man should be very sure of his own motives before
he submits to it. If a man be quite certain that he is really
actuated by a Christian's desire to forgive, it may be all very well;
but if there be any admixture of base alloy in his gold, if he allows
himself to think that he may avoid the evils of pugnacity, and have
things go smooth for him here, and become a good Christian by the
same process, why then I think he is likely to fall to the ground
between two stools." Had Lord Trowbridge heard him, his lordship
would now have been quite sure that Mr. Fenwick was an infidel.

They had both doubted whether Sam would be found at the mill; but
there he was, hard at work among the skeleton timbers, when his
friends reached the place.

"I am glad to see you at home again, Sam," said Mrs. Fenwick, with
something, however, of an inner feeling that perhaps she might be
saluting a murderer.

Sam touched his cap, but did not utter a word, or look away from his
work. They passed on amidst the heaps in front of the mill, and came
to the porch before the cottage. Here, as had been his wont in all
these idle days, the miller was sitting with a pipe in his mouth.
When he saw the lady he got up and ducked his head, and then sat down
again. "If your wife is here, I'll just step in, Mr. Brattle," said
Mrs. Fenwick.

"She be there, ma'am," said the miller, pointing towards the kitchen
window with his head. So Mrs. Fenwick lifted the latch and entered.
The parson sat himself down by the miller's side.

"I am heartily glad, Mr. Brattle, that Sam is back with you here once
again."

"He be there, at work among the rest o' 'em," said the miller.

"I saw him as I came along. I hope he will remain here now."

"I can't say, Muster Fenwick."

"But he intends to do so?"

"I can't say, Muster Fenwick."

"Would it not be well that you should ask him?"

"Not as I knows on, Muster Fenwick."

It was manifest enough that the old man had not spoken to his son
on the subject of the murder, and that there was no confidence,--at
least, no confidence that had been expressed,--between the father and
the son. No one had as yet heard the miller utter any opinion as to
Sam's innocence or his guilt. This of itself seemed to the clergyman
to be a very terrible condition for two persons who were so closely
united, and who were