The old negro preacher was examined, but he replied evasively, that he had just come, and knew nothing about it, while at the same time he kept his eyes strangely fixed upon the corner of the room occupied by Phædra's bed. Yet, the policeman had pulled that bed to pieces and found nothing, and now did not know what to make of Portiphar's pertinacious gaze. At last a bright idea struck him. He took the poker and began sounding the floor. He went on sounding foot by foot until he approached the bed. Turning then, he saw Phædra's face haggard with the most frightful expression of terror and anxiety. Dragging the bedstead away by main force he began to sound the corner. The floor returned a hollow echo; he was satisfied. It was but the work of a moment to turn up the carpet, to lift up a loose plank and to discover the mouth of the excavation below. He knelt upon his knees and peered down into the cavern; the mouth only opened in the corner of Phædra's cabin; the cavern itself extended under and beneath the house. He peered down into the darkness for a few moments, and then called, in a not unkindly voice: "Valentine, my poor fellow, you may as well come out; the game is up with you!" A moment passed, and then Valentine, indeed, appeared above the opening. "Give me time to change my dress, Mr. Pomfret," he said, for he was still in his woman's gown. This was granted. The change was soon effected, and he came forth and gave himself up, only saying, as they took him away: "Mother, tell my friends that the traitor at your side betrayed me to death!" And he regretted these words as soon as they were spoken. Phædra had not heard them; she seemed praying--she had really fainted. CHAPTER IX. THE TRIAL. You few that love me, And dare be bold to weep for such as I-- My gentle friends and fellows, whom to leave Is only bitter to me, only dying-- Go with me, like good angels, to mine end, And when the long divorce of death falls on me, Make of your prayers one most sweet sacrifice, And lift my soul to heaven.--SHAKESPEARE. The news of the arrest of Valentine spread rapidly over the city and surrounding country, creating everywhere an intense excitement, and reviving all the deep interest that had been felt two years before, at the epoch of the crime. This excitement prevailed all around Fannie, yet she knew nothing of it, or at least of its cause. There was no one found willing to carry this sorrowful intelligence to her, whom it most concerned; and she remained in total ignorance of the arrest of her husband until the next day, which being Saturday, she was looking forward, as usual, to an early closing of the shop, and a walk out into the country, to spend the night and the Sabbath with her old mother, and to comfort Valentine, when, unexpectedly, poor Phædra, recovered in some degree from the shock she had received, and accompanied by Elisha, arrived at her daughter's humble little home.