THE MONK. 91 



cupied thus, he was seen and seized in the manner before mentioned. 

 After stating these particulars, he concluded by making the most 

 solemn asseverations of his innocence, and appealing to the humane 

 pity and justice of his judges to acquit him. He spoke with all the 

 force and energy of truth, and his words produced a conviction that 

 he was not guilty in the minds of most of those present who had 

 come there predisposed against him. His judges were much embar- 

 rassed. They conferred together for some time, and again interro- 

 gated his accuser. In reply to their questions, he stated that, after 

 delivering the prisoner up to the authorities, he returned, accom- 

 panied by two or three of the police, to a cottage on the mountain, 

 where the wounded man had been carried by some of the peasants. 

 They found him quite dead ; every part of his dress was carefully 

 searched, and no ring could be found. The story, however ingeni- 

 ously devised and plausibly put forth, he believed to be a contempti- 

 ble fabrication. Not one single proof could be adduced of any thing 

 that was advanced, it must all be taken on the bare word of the cri- 

 minal, who, of course, did not hesitate to forge a lie for the purpose 

 of extricating himself from the penalty of a murder. The accuser, 

 therefore, called vehemently on the court to condemn the culprit. 

 Though Arthur's defence had produced a considerable sensation in 

 his favour, yet, from its entirely circumstantial nature, it could not 

 at all alter the law, which preferred the evidence of the accuser to 

 to the assertion of the accused. He was consequently found guilty, 

 and his life declared forfeited. 



" When the sentence was pronounced, M. de Rosenberg uttered a 

 cry of anguish that pierced every heart ; and before any one could 

 come to his aid he fell insensible on the floor of the hall. Arthur 

 had heard his doom with calmness, but when he saw his father he 

 could refrain no longer. Casting himself on his knees by the side 

 of the wretched old man, he pressed his lips on his cold, clammy 

 brow; he clasped the now unconscious hand with the deepest fer- 

 vour ; and gazing upon him with a look of passionate tenderness, 

 which soon changed to one of unutterable woe, he wept long and 

 bitterly. No one attempted to part them. Their grief was too 

 sacred to be broken in upon, even by a word. All sincerely sympa- 

 thized in the scene. At length, M. de Rosenberg began to recover, 

 and was carried out, while his son was re-conducted to his lonelv 

 cell. 



"The most powerful interest was used in Arthur's behalf; and 

 this, united to his youth and the respectability of his connexions, 

 together with a degree of uncertainty that existed in the peculiar 



