s plainly as if he had spoken, "I knew
the captain was an evil man, but I did not know that he was a base one."

"Were you not aware that I am a captive of this band?" next inquired
Sybil.

"No, madam; I thought that you had been rescued by our men from the
officers of the law. I thought that you were in refuge with us, from a
false and fatal charge."

"Your thoughts were partly correct. I was rescued from the bailiffs by
Captain Inconnu's band. And I do suffer under a false charge. But,
Raphael, what think you? Do you not think that a false charge should be
bravely met, answered, and put down? Would not you, if you were falsely
charged with any criminal act, bravely go forward to answer it in your
innocence, rather than run away from it as if you were guilty?"

"Oh, indeed I would!" answered the youth, earnestly.

"I knew it. Your face assures me that you would neither commit a
dishonorable act, nor rest one moment under a dishonoring charge."

The lad thrilled and glowed under the lovely lady's praise, and felt
that he must do all he could to merit it. He could find no words good
enough to reply to her, but he lifted his cap and bowed deeply.

"You understand me, Raphael! But I will confide still further in you. I
will tell you that when that terrible tragedy was enacted at Black Hall,
and I was so deeply compromised by circumstances in the crime, I wished
to stay and face out the false charge; but I yielded to the persuasions
of those who loved me more than life, and sometimes I think more than
honor! And I fled with my husband. Since that first flight, Raphael, I
have led the hiding and hunted life of an outlaw and a criminal!
Raphael, my cheeks burn when I think of it! Raphael, I am a Berners! I
can live this life no longer! Come what will of it, I wish to give
myself up to justice! Better to die a martyr's death than live an
outlaw's life!"

"Oh, madam--!"

It was all the boy could bring out in words. But he clasped his hands,
and gazed on her with an infinite compassion, deference, and devotion in
his clear, candid, earnest blue eyes.

Sybil felt that she had gone a step too far in talking of her "martyr's
death" to this sensitive young soul. So she hastened to add:

"But I have no fear of such a fatal consummation. The charge against me
is so preposterous that, on being fairly met, it must disappear. And
now, my young friend, I must tell you that I do thank Captain Inconnu
and his men for rescuing m