"That I tacitly allowed John Brancker to be brought in guilty by a coroner's jury," he said, "that I allowed him to languish in prison for eight or nine weeks, and be brought to trial, when a dozen words from me would have made a free man of him--are facts which I have neither the power nor the wish to gainsay; but if you therefore imagine that in case the trial had gone against him, I would not then have spoken out and proclaimed our shame and disgrace to the world, you were never more utterly mistaken in your life. I was fully determined to keep my secret--our secret--till the last possible moment--I have already told you my motives for so doing--but not a moment longer. Had the second verdict proved a confirmation of the first, my father's letter would at once have been handed to the judge. I trust you believe that I am telling you the truth." "I do believe it," said Clem, emphatically. "You spoke just now of what John Brancker must have suffered during the weary weeks he lay in prison. I greatly doubt whether his sufferings were as poignant as mine. He was buoyed up and strengthened by the consciousness of innocence, while I---- But why pursue the topic? This only I will say in conclusion, that the last six months have been the most wretched of my life, and not for ten thousand pounds would I, of my own free will, go through such an experience again. "I can fully credit that," replied Clem, earnestly, "and although the result of the trial must unquestionably have lifted a great weight off your mind, still--if I know anything of you, if you are the man I have always believed you to be--your burthen is but half removed. You are far from being clear of it yet." Edward threw a quick, suspicious glance at his brother. "Excuse me, Clem, if I fail to apprehend your meaning," he said, coldly. "Is it not plain enough? How can you be the same man that you were before our father's death while you continue to keep to yourself the knowledge which would clear John Brancker from every iota of suspicion, and give him back the stainless character, and with it the happiness, of which you have deprived him? How can you look to regain that peace of mind which was your dearest possession, although you may not have known it at the time; how can you look your fellows in the face with untroubled eyes, knowing, as you do, that as the consequence of a deliberate act on your part, your mother and sister are living on the proceeds of a fraud? The fruits of wrong-doing never prove other than dust and ashes to those who pluck them." They had both sat down again without thinking what they were about, and they now confronted each other across the office table. Clem's face was paler than ordinary, but never had he looked more like his brother than at that moment. The determination and quiet energy with which he had spoken had, for the time being, lent to his face some of the resolute lines and the firm, set expression which were characteristic of Edward.