THE SMUGGLER. 411 



lute, but displayed less excitement than when he left her. He 

 entered with a slow step, leaving the door partly open behind 

 him, seated himself, and gazed at her for a moment, then 

 spread out the small yellow paper on the table, but held his hand 

 tight upon the lower part, as if he feared she might snatch it 

 up and destroy it. 



" There, look at that, Miss Croyland!" he said; "you spoke 

 of false accusations; look at that, and be ashamed of bringing 

 them yourself." 



Edith gave a glance towards it with a sensation of awe, but 

 did not attempt to read it. Her eye rested upon the words, 

 " Deposition of;" and upon a stain of blood at the bottom of 

 the page, and she turned away with a shudder. I have 

 heard of it before," she answered, " yet every word in it may 

 be false." 



" False, or not false," replied Mr. Radford, " it sends your 

 father to gaol to-morrow, and to the gallows a month after; 

 if you do not instantly sign thatl" and he laid another freshly 

 written page open before her. 



Edith took it in her hand, and read, " I hereby consent and 

 promise, when called upon, to marry Richard Radford, junior, 

 Esquire, the son of Richard Radford, of Radford Hall." 



" You have your choice, Miss Croyland," continued her 

 persecutor, in a low and bitter tone, " either to save your 

 father, or to put him to death with your own hands ; for I 

 swear, by all that I hold sacred, that if you do not instantly* 

 sign that paper, ay, and fulfil its engagement, I will send off 

 this deposition to the bench of magistrates, with the letter I 

 have just written, giving an account of all the circumstances, 

 and explaining how, out of weak kindness and friendship for 

 Sir Robert Croyland, I have been prevailed upon to keep back 

 the information until now. Do not deceive yourself, and think 

 that his fortune or his station would save him. A peer of the 

 realm has been hanged before now for the murder of his own 

 servant. Neither must you suppose that upon that deposition 

 alone rests the proof of his guilt. There was other evidence 

 given at the coroner's inquest, all bearing upon the same 

 point, which requires but this light to be made plain. The 

 threats your father previously used, the falsehoods he told re- 

 garding where he had been, all these things can be proved, for 

 I have taken care to preserve that evidence." 



