“Well, he went to jail, and the trial was coming on soon. The evidence against him was strong. He was the known enemy of--Mr. Conway. He had quarrelled with him on that day, and his knife was found by--the body--on which the money had not been touched. A robber, you see, would have taken the money; as it was untouched the crime must have been committed by a personal enemy. Who was that enemy? The prisoner--whose name was Davenant! “Well, the trial was near. I had gone back to the court-house on _that day_, and was still hanging around the place. What was I to do? I had to determine whether I would let an innocent man be hanged for my crime, or go to the sheriff and say, ‘release the prisoner--I am the murderer.’ That was rather more than I was ready for, and I hit on a means which might serve. The knife was important evidence--the _most_ important--and I was in the clerk’s office one day, hanging round and listening, when I saw the sheriff put the knife in a drawer, to have it ready near court on the day of trial. Well, that night I broke into the court-house--stole the knife--and waited to see what would occur on the trial. “As the day drew near I felt like a real murderer, and had the prisoner all the time before my eyes, hanging on a gallows. I drank harder than ever, but I could not get that picture out of my mind. I saw worse pictures than before. So I determined what to do. I sat down, wrote a full confession of the murder, which I signed; and a friend of mine carried this to the prisoner’s wife. I had put on it ‘In haste, this will save Mr. Davenant’s life’--and his wife carried it, at full speed, with her own hands to the court-house, where she arrived just as the jury had retired. “The prisoner opened and read it. When he had finished it, he folded it up and put it in his pocket. As he did so, the jury came in with a verdict of ‘Not guilty’--and he went out of the court-room accompanied by a crowd of friends. “So he was cleared, you see--without using the document which I had written. That was in his pocket; was of no further use; and as it might become dangerous I entered his house that night, broke open the desk in which he kept his private papers, and took this one out, reading and making sure that it was the genuine document, by the light of the moon which streamed in at the window. “I was still looking at the paper, when a noise behind me attracted my attention, and turning round I saw--Mr. Davenant. He had heard the noise I made in breaking open the secretary; put on his dressing-gown; and coming down, pistol in hand, was on me before I knew it. The few minutes that followed were rather angry, and noisy. Unexpectedly, Mr. Davenant did not fire on me. After an interchange of compliments, I put the paper in my pocket, passed out through the window, and mounting my horse, rode away. “After that I went far, and saw many persons. Among the rest you, madam; and our matrimonial life has been chequered!