course; and, doubtless, the best for his hopes hereafter."

"I did not question him upon the subject," said Doctor Danvers; "I even
declined to hear him speak upon it at first; but he told me he was
resolved to offer no defense, and that he saw the finger of God in the
fate which had overtaken him."

"He will plead guilty, then, I suppose?" suggested Marston, watching the
countenance of his companion with an anxious and somewhat sinister eye.

"His words seem to imply so much," answered he; "and having thus frankly
owned his guilt, and avowed his resolution to let the law take its due
course in his case, without obstruction or evasion, I urged him to
complete the grand work he had begun, and to confess to you, or to some
other magistrate fully, and in detail, every circumstance connected with
the perpetration of the dreadful deed."

Marston knit his brows, and rode on for some minutes in silence. At
length he said, abruptly--

"In this, it seems to me, sir, you a little exceeded your commission."

"How so, my dear sir?" asked the clergyman.

"Why, sir," answered Marston, "the man may possibly change his mind
before the day of trial, and it is the hangman's office, not yours, my
good sir, to fasten the halter about his neck. You will pardon my
freedom; but, were this deposition made as you suggest, it would
undoubtedly hang him."

"God forbid, Mr. Marston," rejoined Danvers, "that I should induce the
unhappy man to forfeit his last chances of escape, and to shut the door
of human mercy against himself, but on this he seems already resolved; he
says so; he has solemnly declared his resolution to me; and even against
my warning, again and again reiterated the same declaration."

"That I should have thought quite enough, were I in your place, without
inviting a detailed description of the whole process by which this
detestable butchery was consummated. What more than the simple knowledge
of the man's guilt does any mortal desire; guilty, or not guilty, is the
plain question which the law asks, and no more; take my advice, sir, as a
poor Protestant layman, and leave the acts of the confessional and
inquisition to Popish priests."

"Nay, Mr. Marston, you greatly misconceive me; as matters stand, there
exists among the coroner's jury, and thus among the public, some faint
and unfounded suspicion of the possibility of Merton's having had an
accessory or accomplice in the perpetration of this foul murder."

"It is a