r mother had
once held this man to her breast, and shed tears of joy or sorrow over
him!

CHAPTER XX. AFTERWARDS.

The inquest was over. Donald Morrison was found guilty of having slain
Warren. He walked abroad openly. No one attempted to interfere with him.
After the natural horror at the deed had subsided, sympathy went out to
Donald. He had slain a man. True. But it was in self-defence. Had not
Warren been seen pointing the pistol at him? Even admitting that Warren
had no intention to shoot, but only intended to intimidate Donald, how
could the latter know that? Donald had killed a man in the assertion of
the first law of nature--self-preservation.

The people deplored the act. But they did not feel justified in handing
Donald over to justice.

The news of the terrible tragedy spread. The papers got hold of the
story, and made the most of it.

CHAPTER XXI. THE BLOW FALLS.

"Father, father, what is the matter? What ails you?"

Mr. Minton had taken up the paper after breakfast. He had glanced
carelessly down the columns.

The editorials were dull, and the news meagre. Suddenly, he came across
a large heading--"DREADFUL TRAGEDY!"
He read a few lines, and then uttered a cry of horror. He threw down the
paper, and looked at Minnie. It was a look of anguish.

Minnie reached forward for the paper. Her eye caught the fatal head
line. By its suggestion of horror it provoked that hunger for details
which, in its acute stage, becomes pruriency.

This is what the eye, with a constantly augmenting expression of
fearfulness, conveyed to the brain:--

"DREADFUL TRAGEDY.--About mid-day yesterday one of the most fearful
tragedies ever enacted in this province, indeed in Canada, took place
in the village of Megantic. Our readers are familiar with the agrarian
troubles in which Donald Morrison has been figuring for some time past.
They have also been apprised that, upon the burning of Duquette's
homestead, suspicion at once fell upon Donald. A warrant, charging him
with arson, was sworn out against him, and a man named Warren undertook
to execute it. It is alleged that the latter, armed with the warrant and
a huge revolver, swaggered about Megantic for several days, boasting
that he would take Morrison dead or alive. Be that as it may, the two
men met yesterday outside the village hotel. The accounts of what
followed are most conflicting. One of our reporters interviewed several
witnesses of the scene, and