judge. 'The traveler upon the road to
Lulea, and the unhappy Laplander, who conducted the governor to that
den of murderers, are dumb witnesses of your husband's guilt.'

'By the God of heaven, Mac Donalbain is not guilty of their death!'
cried Christine in tones of the deepest anguish. 'Ask the band, and, if
either of them accuse my husband, let us both die the shameful death of
criminals.'

'We would indeed very willingly hear the truth, at last, from his
companions. But in their examinations they have denied all knowledge of
the crimes of which they have been guilty, with unparalleled
impudence.'

'The knaves deny!' cried Mac Donalbain, springing upon his feet. 'They
must consider me dead or as having escaped, else they would not dare to
do it, for they know me. Let them be brought here,--let them be placed
before my eyes. I will reckon with them in a manner which shall change
their minds.'

'It may not be advisable,' observed Megret; 'it may give them an
opportunity for secret collusion.'

'I am of a different opinion, colonel,' answered the judge, directing
the bailiff to bring in the band. 'This man is so bold and frank that
we need not fear artifice.'

A long, deep silence ensued. Christine, weeping in silence, had seated
herself upon Mac Donalbain's stool, and was absorbed in the
contemplation of the blooming child, which with an angel smile was
sleeping on her bosom. The brigand leader had kneeled down and hid his
face in her lap, whilst her white fingers wandered among his black and
curled locks. Megret looked with dark burning glances, and Arwed with
the deepest sympathy upon the group, while the judge said, sighing;
'the office of a judge is sometimes very difficult to administer!'

A noise was now heard in the ante-room. Arms and chains rattled, and
twelve fiend-like ruffians, in heavy chains and strongly guarded by
bailiffs and soldiers, stepping in exact time, without recognizing or
noticing Mac Donalbain, marched in and formed in exact line on the
space before the bench.

'We have again summoned you,' began the chief judge, 'to repeat our
exhortations to confess the truth, and once more to lead your minds to
the conviction, that by persisting in your shameless denials, you only
prolong the examination and your own imprisonment--that you expose
yourselves to the torture of the rack, and moreover increase the
severity of your punishment, the mitigation of which you can only hope
from a free and