'God forbid!' stammered one of the band. 'We should be disgraced for life!' cried another; and the former speaker, who by this time had risen from the floor, cried, 'let your crook-backed secretary nib his pen afresh, sir judge. We will now sing the song that you lords will but too willingly hear from such poor devils as we. Write! Everything that our captain has confessed is true from the beginning to the end.' 'Well now,' cried Megret, who could restrain himself no longer; 'you see that you may now, if you please, repay your captain for all the misfortunes he has brought upon you. The sinful ties which connected you with him are cut asunder, and you have no reason to spare him in the least. So tell the court freely and frankly--'who murdered the traveler on the road to Lulea?' 'That,' answered the robber with eagerness and proud satisfaction, 'was done by a brace of gallows-birds who did not belong to our band, but marauded on their own account, and we beg not to be confounded with them. Had we caught them we should ourselves have hung them upon the nearest tree; for we could not with indifference have permitted such good-for-nothing fellows to injure our reputation.' 'And who killed the poor Laplander, who was found hung upon the fir-tree before the entrance to your den?' asked the judge. 'Red Hialf,' answered the prisoner; 'but without orders. In consequence of which our captain arrested him, and on the morning when we were attacked, he was to have had his trial. He must have been found locked up in the vault of the second tower.' 'That place was not searched!' cried Arwed, with a shudder. 'He must have been blown into the air with the tower,' said Megret. 'There can be no question of it.' 'You must now be convinced,' said Christine, approaching the judge, 'that my husband is innocent of every murderous deed. Can you now give me any hope for him?' 'I should consider it great presumption to give you any,' answered the judge, 'and unjust to withhold it entirely. Our laws are severe and my duties strict. Yet can the queen pardon. Leave the decision to God!' He directed the bailiffs to replace Mac Donalbain's chains. Christine watched the proceeding in silent sadness, bowed with a sweet and melancholy grace to the judges, and, supporting her child with one arm and her husband with the other, she moved with him from the room. Arwed and Megret followed her. 'Is it really your unalterable resolution, countess,' whispered the latter to her, 'to share the imprisonment of a villain, instead of fulfilling a daughter's duty by the sick bed of your noble father?'