Weekly commercial herald., 1885-09-25
CHAPTER XVI
"wHERE ARE THE SHOWS THAT YELL LAST
YEARpi

uraHla IN WHICH fnulppa anu plaYeu paris
50 painful, SO full Of grief, and even IL
Frightened by ray of joy, Of joy falla-
cious and Of uncertain tenure-these acts
have found little difficulty in describing;
had simply to throw my mind back to the
pictures of the past and reproduce them in
words. The task, whether well or i'll done,
was not hard one.
But now, when in one moment and as It
by magic, everything changed; when sorrow
seemed to be simply swept out of our lives;
when that poor wretch's abject confession
of guilt, forced from him in some mysterious
way, not only left our whole future bright
and cloudless, but consigned to rest all the
ghosts of the past, whose shadowy forms
had hitherto dogged our steps and denied us
the happiness rightly due to those who love
acutely, and wish my pen was more power
full than it Is
And yet word will describe the state Of
my own mind as. when the last solemn
words were spoken by the judge-spoken in
voice which showed emotion and distress
at being compelled to condemn a fellow
creature to death-I carried my fainting
wife from the crowded, reeking court. The
momentary sense Of rapture passed away;
bewilderment, sheer bewilderment, is the
word for what was left could not think.
All my reasoning faculties had left me. In
fact, believe that had Philippa not swooned,
and so needed my mechanically given care,
myself should have fallen senseless on that
threshold which an hour before we crossed,
thinking we were going to endless misery.
remember this much. As | laid Phil
ippa on one of the hard wooden benches in
the stone corridor kept repeating to my
self, Innocent, my love is innocent; that
man is guilty" suppose this continual re-
iteration was an endeavor to impress the
tremendous fact upon my brain, which for
time was incredulous, and refused to en-
tertain it.
threw up my wife's veil and bathed her
face with water, which was brought me by
a kindly policeman. Presently her eyes
opened and consciousness returned; she
strove to speak
My presence Of mind was fast returning.
dearest" l whispered, las you love- me not
word in this place. In minute we will
leave it."
She was obedient; but knew from the
wild look of joy in her eyes that obedience
tasked her to the utmost. She was soon able
to rise, and then we walked from the court,
pushed our way through the crowd who
waited in the street busily discussing the
sudden termination to the trial, threw our
selves into cab and in another moment
were alternately weeping and laughing in
each others arms.
1t was, however, but for moment The
inn to which we drove was close at hand.
There we were shown into room, and were
at last free to give the fullest vent to our
pent up feelings.
1t would be absurd for me to attempt to
reproduce our words, our disjointed exclama-
tions 1t would be sacrilege for me to de-
scribe tho tears that we shed, the embraces,
the loving caresses we Iavished on each
other. Think of US an hour, one short hour
ago! Think Of us now! This curse laid
upon us by that awful night removed for
everl Our secret kept, or secrecy, if still
advisable, no longer absolutely needfll.
Philippa, in spite of all had seen, in spite
of all she had told me on that night when
found her, wild, distracted woman, in
storm the widest that years have known,
guiltless of her husbands DEATH Innocent,
not only as she had in my eyes always been,
but also, what was far more, innocent in her
own eyesl
Small wonder that for nearly an hour we
sat with our arms twined around each other,
and used few words which were more than
rapturous exclamations of love and joy
There! l cannot. will not describe the
scene more fully will say no more, ex-
cept this; when at last we grew calmer,
Philippa turned to me. and once more saw
terror gathering in her eyes,
Basil, she said, ''is it true-it must be
trueT
"Truel Of course it is"
"That man, the prisoner, could not have
pleaded guilty when be was innocent"
"Why should he9 1t meant death to him,
poor wretch"
"But why did he contest"
"Who can tells Remorse may have urged
him to do So"
Philippa rose and her next words were
spoken quickly and with excitement.
mo, did not do it The thought. the
dream haunted me, but l did not believe it
untfl l heard these men talk of the way he
died. Then it all came back to me. The
mad storm, the dead man over whom
stood; even then / don't think / actually
believed it It was when you told me how
you found me that lost all hope.n
dearest, forgive me- should have be-
lieved in the inpossibility of the act even in
your delirium, even If had seen il done.
Philippa, say you forgive me-"
She threw her arms around me. "Basil.
my husband" she whispered, ''you have
done much for me, do one thing more: find
out the whole truth-find out why this man
killed him, how he killed him; find out.
satisfy me that his confession was a true
one; then, Basil, such happiness as / have
never even dreamed Of viii be minel'
Sand minei" / echoed.
Ipromised to do as she wished. Indeed,
the moment had recovered my senses l re-
solved to learn everything that could be
learned. Once and for all would clear
away every cloud Of doubt, although that
cloud might be no bigger than mans
hand
But Philippa must not stop In Tewnham
Her strange conduct during the trial, her
fainting fit after it, were bound to have at
tracted the attention Of those present. No
doubt she was looked upon as friend of the
prisoner, who was overpowered by the sud.
den and awful ending to the case. Still. she
must not stay at Tewnham.
We went to London by an afternoon train
The next morning again ran down TO the
place at which the trial was held Ilearnad
the name Of the convicts solicitor. and as
soon as found him at leisure requested the