that my lord the
governor has not proposed an amnesty for his dear son-in-law.'

'My uncle,' answered Arwed with earnestness, 'can pardon injuries
personal to himself; but he will never allow himself to interrupt the
just operation of the laws. With us Mac Donalbain has made his peace.
He has now to reconcile himself with the laws and satisfy the demands
of public justice, if need be, with his blood!'

'Oh, would to God it might be so!' cried Mac Donalbain. 'With my
present feelings life would be to me a most sad and unwelcome gift.'

A disturbance was now heard without the session-room. The door flew
open, and the breathless Christine, with her child in her arms, pressed
irresistibly through the crowd of officers who sought to hold her
back.

'This trial also!' sighed Mac Donalbain, turning away his face.

'In God's name, the countess Gyllenstierna!' cried the astonished
judge.

'I was the countess Gyllenstierna,' said Christine. 'I am now the
wedded wife of the brigand leader, Mac Donalbain, and my place is by
his side, in chains or upon the gallows.'

'Christine! how could you afflict your father by this second shameful
flight?' Arwed reproachingly asked.

'My father's life,' answered Christine, 'was already empoisoned beyond
remedy by my guilt. Therefore allow me the merit of having fulfilled my
duty towards at least _one_ being in the world, my husband. He is a
prisoner, and suffering in body and mind. He needs care and
consolation; and from whom can he expect either, if not from her who
has bound her fate with his for this life by a solemn oath before God's
altar.'

'Have you then really married the criminal?' Megret anxiously asked.

Christine gave him a scornful look and remained silent; but when the
question was repeated by the judge, she drew a sealed paper from her
bosom and laid it upon his table.

'A Gyllenstierna can never wholly fall,' said she proudly. 'The old
curate of Lyksale, constrained by my tears, secretly married us a short
time before his death.'

'This evidence,' said the judge, 'speaks _against_ your wish to share
the criminal's chains. Bound to him by the holy ties of marriage, you
become guiltless of the crimes in which he is implicated, in which your
will had no part. There is no reasonable ground for your detention, and
nothing remains but to send you back to your father.'

'Torture me not with this well-meant chicanery!' exclaimed Christine.
'Would you counsel me to ascer