't hear you, murderer," rejoined Wood.

"I am no murderer," replied Sheppard. "I had no thought of injuring your
wife, and would have died rather than commit so foul a crime."

"Think not to delude me, audacious wretch," cried the carpenter. "Even
if you are not a principal, you are an accessory. If you had not brought
your companion here, it would not have happened. But you shall swing,
rascal,--you shall swing."

"My conscience acquits me of all share in the offence," replied Jack,
humbly. "But the past is irremediable, and I did not come hither to
exculpate myself, I came to save _your_ life," he added, turning to
Thames.

"I was not aware it was in danger," rejoined Darrell.

"Then you ought to be thankful to me for the warning. You _are_ in
danger."

"From some of your associates?"

"From your uncle, from _my_ uncle,--Sir Rowland Trenchard."

"What means this idle boasting, villain?" said Thames. "_Your_ uncle,
Sir Rowland?"

"It is no idle boasting," replied the other. "You are cousin to the
housebreaker, Jack Sheppard."

"If it were so, he would have great reason to be proud of the
relationship, truly," observed Wood, shrugging his shoulders.

"It is easy to make an assertion like this," said Thames,
contemptuously.

"And equally easy to prove it," replied Jack, giving him the paper he
had abstracted from Wild. "Read that."

Thames hastily cast his eyes over it, and transferred it, with a look
of incredulity, to Wood.

"Gracious Heavens! this is more wonderful than all the rest," cried the
carpenter, rubbing his eyes. "Thames, this is no forgery."

"You believe it, father?"

"From the bottom of my heart. I always thought Mrs. Sheppard superior to
her station."

"So did I," said Winifred. "Let me look at the paper."

"Poor soul!--poor soul!" groaned Wood, brushing the tears from his
vision. "Well, I'm glad she's spared this. Oh! Jack, Jack, you've much
to answer for!"

"I have, indeed," replied Sheppard, in a tone of contrition.

"If this document is correct," continued Wood, "and I am persuaded it is
so,--you are as unfortunate as wicked. See what your misconduct has
deprived you of--see what you might have been. This is retribution."

"I feel it," replied Jack, in a tone of agony, "and I feel it more on my
poor mother's account than my own."

"She has suffered enough for you," said Wood.

"She has, she has," said Jack, in a broken voice.

"Weep on, reprobate," cried the carpenter,