282 THE SMUGGLER. 



shrugging his shoulders, said, that he was placed in a very 

 delicate and painful situation, and that he did not really know- 

 how to act with regard to the deposition. ' Put it in the fire!' 

 I exclaimed, 'put it in the firel' But he said, 'No; every 

 man must consider himself in these things, Sir Eobert. I 

 have my own character and reputation to think of my own 

 duty. I risk a great deal, you must recollect, by concealing 

 a thing of this kind. I do not know that I don't put my own 

 life in danger ; for this is clear and conclusive evidence against 

 you, and you know what it is to be accessory in a case of 

 murder 1' I then told him my own story, Edith; and he said, 

 that made some difference, indeed. He was sure I would 

 tell him the truth; but yet he must consider himself in the 

 matter; and he added hints which I could not mistake, that 

 his evidence was to be bought off. I offered anything he 

 pleased to name, and the result was such as you may guess. 

 He exacted that I should mortgage my estate, as far as it 

 could be mortgaged, and make over the proceeds to him, and 

 that I should promise to give your hand to his son. I pro- 

 mised anything, my child; for not only life or death, but 

 honour or disgrace, were in the balance. If he had asked my 

 life, I would have held my throat to the knife a thousand 

 times sooner than have made such sacrifices. But to die the 

 death of a felon, Edith to be hanged to writhe in the face 

 of a grinning and execrating multitude to have my name 

 handed down in the annals of crime as the man wlio had 

 been executed for the murder of his own servant, I could not 

 bear that, my child; and I promised anything! He kept the 

 paper, he said, as a security; and, at first, it was to be given 

 to me to do with it as I liked, when the money coming from 

 the mortgage was secretly made over to him ; but then, he 

 said, that he had lost one great hold, and must keep it till the 

 marriage was completed: for by this time the coroner's inquest 

 was over, and he had withheld the deposition, merely testify- 

 ing that he had found the man at the point of death in the 

 wood, and had gone as fast as possible for assistance. The 

 jury consisted of his tenants and mine, and they were easily 

 satisfied; but the fiend who had me in his power was more 

 greedy ; and, by the very exercise of his influence, he seemed to 

 learn to enjoy it. Day after day, month after month, he took 

 a pleasure in making me do things that were abhorrent to me. 



