"Isaac," continued Hester, "we don't care nothing about punishing you. This is what you've got to do,--you've got to take Will out of prison, and let him marry his own true love. And you have got to do it in this way. I'm going now to fetch Miss Mary Vallence, the young lady whose purse you stole, and she'll take down your full confession in writing,--all about how you planned to ruin Will, all your reasons, and what you did with the rest of the money. She'll put it down on paper--the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth; and then you ha' got to sign your name to it, and Mother Bunch and me we'll witness it, and then after that, Isaac, we'll set you free, and one of us will go with you to the end of Paradise Row, and you shall have an hour--jest one hour--to get away in, before Miss Vallence lodges that paper with the police. Them's our terms, Isaac, and you ha' got to say yes or no to them at once." "Maybe the child 'ud rather feel my right ahrum," burst from Mother Bunch. "No," said Isaac, sullenly. "You have me in a trap, and I must do what you wish. You'll be true to your promise about the hour, Hester. Oh!--it's the meanest trick that was ever played on a feller, and I'll be even with every one of you yet." "You may do your worst, child--we ain't afeard," responded Mother Bunch. "Three cheers, boys all--for Isaac Dent have lost his sweetheart." The room rang again with the sound of boisterous merriment, and in the midst of the confusion and uproar Hester slipped away. She was going to Miss Vallence, to ask her to come with her at once, and so to redeem her promise. CHAPTER XXXIII. The dread of corporal punishment, the dire sensation of fear, is about the only weapon which produces salutary results on certain individuals. They belong to the lowest of the race, but they undoubtedly do exist, and it is well to know how to deal with them. The Irish people in Paradise Row obtained from Isaac Dent what no amount of prayers and supplications would have won from him. Miss Vallence, when she arrived, took down from his lips a full and free confession of the evil part he had played. This paper was duly signed and attested, and the prisoner was given his liberty and an hour's grace. That he made good use of this hour is apparent; for no one has heard or Been anything of him in Liverpool again. The Irish folks were intensely triumphant; and Mother Bunch, in high good humor, invited every one of the conspirators to a banquet at her house on the day on which Will was let out of prison. "And now to find Bet, and to see how the little cap'n is getting on," said Hester. "I'll run up and take a look at him now, Mother Bunch. I hope Biddy has not stirred from him during the evening."