Foam_ will
be ready for sea in a few days, in it I shall convey Gascoyne to
England."

"O Mr Montague, I do take his case to heart, as you say, and no one on
this earth has more cause to do so. Will it interest you more in
Gascoyne, and induce you to use your influence in his favour, if I tell
you that--that--_he is my husband_?"

"Your husband!" cried Montague, springing up and pacing the apartment
with rapid strides.

"Ay," said Mrs Stuart, mournfully, covering her face with her hands; "I
had hoped that this secret would die with me and him, but in the hope
that it may help, ever so little, to save his life, I have revealed it
to you."

"Believe me, the secret shall be safe in my keeping," said Montague,
tenderly, as he sat down again and drew his chair near to that of Mrs
Stuart. "But, alas! I do not see how it is possible for me to help
your husband. I will use my utmost influence to mitigate his sentence,
but I cannot, I _dare_ not set him free."

The poor woman sat pale and motionless while the captain said this. She
began to perceive that all hope was gone, and felt despair settling down
on her heart.

"What will be his doom," said she, in a husky voice, "if his life is
spared?"

"I do not know. At least I am not certain. My knowledge of criminal
law is very slight, but I should suppose it would be transportation
for--"

Montague hesitated, and could not find it in his heart to add the word
"life."

Without uttering a word Mrs Stuart rose, and, staggering from the room,
hastened with a quick unsteady step towards her own cottage.

CHAPTER TWENTY EIGHT.

A PECULIAR CONFIDANT--MORE DIFFICULTIES, AND VARIOUS PLANS TO OVERCOME
THEM.

When Alice Mason was a little child, there was a certain tree near her
father's house to which, in her hours of sorrow, she was wont to run and
tell it all the grief of her overflowing heart. She firmly believed
that this tree heard and understood and sympathised with all that she
said. There was a hole in the stem into which she was wont to pour her
complaints, and when she had thus unburthened her heart to her silent
confidant she felt comforted, as one feels when a human friend has
shared one's sorrows.

When the child became older, and her sorrows were heavier and, perhaps,
more real, her well-nurtured mind began to rise to a higher source for
comfort. Habit and inclination led her indeed to the same tree, but
when she kneeled upon its roots and lean