"That is the worst of the case," said Master Huntoon to his wife. "If Neville were discontented or unhappy, it would show that there was some half-conscious memory at work in his mind; as it is, I have little hope. And such a man! Faith, Brent must have been mad to believe anything evil of that broad, open brow. I have seen many criminals in my time, Betty, and I know the look of them; but there is another look--the look of a man who might commit a crime if the motive were strong enough--I know that too; and then there is yet another face that God keeps for the man who is to play a man's part in the world, to do and dare and bear bravely the worst Fate can lay upon him, and that is the face of Christopher Neville." "Alas that his mind should have died before the body!" "Nay, Betty, let us not give it up so easily. Memory may be gone and judgment even, and yet the vital spark linger. Thought is the breath of the soul. While that lasts there is life, and Christopher's thought is as beautiful and as pure as the heaven above us." "Ay, that's God's truth." "More than that, I have seen in him now and then a glimpse of recognition of earth as though the soul were shaking off its lethargy. Were the real world a less sad one for him, I might be tempted to try to call him back by mention of the Brents or Mistress Calvert." "Oh, that woman!" exclaimed Elizabeth; "not a word from her in all these weeks." "You forget. She counts him dead." "Ay, but she might have written to Peggy." "Yet when Peggy's aunt wrote it did not suit thee." "I should say not. Such a letter! It was as well Christopher was dead, since he had brought such disgrace on the name, but Peggy might come back to her if she chose. Oh, but it was good to see the answer Peggy sent, and how she scorned aid or protection from any that doubted her brother's innocence." "Perhaps Mistress Calvert feared a like rebuff, for she and Peggy did not part in love. Besides, thou must not forget that she has much to contend with. She is a Catholic and under the tutelage of Jesuit priests." "'Tis well I know what _their_ influence is. If I were Lord Baltimore, I would harry them all out of the province." "Ay, but thou art not Lord Baltimore nor called upon for the Christian task of harrying out of the land a band of brave men." "Thou dost defend them?"