rtment to where
stood the youth. Her eye was quick and searching--her words broken, but
with an impetuous flow, indicating the anxiety which, while it accounted
for, sufficiently excused the abruptness of her address, she spoke:--

"Do, sir, say that he had no hand in it--that he is free from the stain
of blood! Speak for him, sir, I pray you; tell me--he will not tell
himself!"

The old lady now sought to interpose, and to apologize for her daughter.

"Why, Kate, Katharine--forgive her, sir; Kate--Katharine, my dear--you
forget. You ask questions of the stranger without any consideration."

But she spoke to an unconscious auditor; and Forrester, though still
almost speechless, now interposed:--

"Let her ask, mother--let her ask--let her know it all. He can say what
I can not. He can tell all. Speak out, 'squire--speak out; don't fear
for me. It must come, and who can better tell of it than you, who know
it all?"

Thus urged, Ralph, in a few words, related the occurrence. Though
carefully avoiding the use of epithet or phrase which might color with
an increased odium the connection and conduct of Forrester with the
affair, the offence admitted of so little apology or extenuation, that
the delicacy with which the details were narrated availed but little in
its mitigation; and an involuntary cry burst from mother and daughter
alike, to which the hollow groan that came from the lips of Forrester
furnished a fitting echo.

"And this is all true, Mark--must I believe all this?" was the inquiry
of the young girl, after a brief interval. There was a desperate
precipitance in the reply of Forrester:--

"True--Katharine--true; every word of it is true. Do you not see it
written in my face? Am I not choked--do not my knees tremble? and my
hands--look for yourself--are they not covered with blood?"

The youth interposed, and for a moment doubted the sanity of his
companion. He had spoken in figure--a mode of speech, which it is a
mistake in rhetoricians to ascribe only to an artificial origin, during
a state of mental quiet. Deep passion and strong excitements, we are
bold to say, employ metaphor largely; and, upon an inspection of the
criminal records of any country, it will be found that the most common
narrations from persons deeply wrought upon by strong circumstances are
abundantly stored with the evidence of what we assert.

"And how came it, Mark?" was the inquiry of the maiden; "and why did you
this thing?"