“Oh! sir,” said Fowler, “I have been a very sad sinner; but indeed I was not so much to blame as them that knew better, and ought to know better--that bribed and deceived me, and lured me by promises to do that--to say that--but indeed I was made to believe it was all to end in no harm--only a jest.” “A jest! Oh, wretch!” cried my mother. “I was a wretch, indeed, ma’am; but Lord Mowbray was, you’ll allow, the wickedest.” “And at the moment he is dead,” said my father, “is this a time--” Fowler, terrified to her inmost coward soul at the sight of the powerful indignation which appeared in my father’s eyes, made an attempt to throw herself at his feet, but he caught strong hold of her arm. “Tell me the plain fact at once, woman.” Now she literally could not speak; she knew my father was violent, and dreaded lest what she had to say should incense him beyond all bounds. My mother rose, and said that she would tell the plain fact. Fowler, still more afraid that my mother should tell it--as she thought, I suppose, she could soften it best herself--interposed, saying, “Sir, if you will give me a moment’s time for recollection, sir, I will tell all. Dear sir, if one had committed murder, and was going to be put to death, one should have that much mercy shown--hard to be condemned unheard.” My father let go her arm from his strong grasp, and sat down, resolved to be patient. It was just, he said, that she, that every human creature should be heard before they were condemned. When she came to the facts, I was so much interested that I cannot recollect the exact words in which the account was given; but this was the substance. Lord Mowbray, when refused by Miss Montenero, had sworn that he would be revenged on her and on me. Indeed, from our first acquaintance with her, he had secretly determined to supplant me; and a circumstance soon occurred which served to suggest the means. He had once heard Miss Montenero express strongly her terror at seeing an insane person--her horror at the idea of a marriage which a young friend of hers had made with a man who was subject to fits of insanity. Upon this hint Mowbray set to work.