He did not once seem to think of denying his identity, and yet till that moment I was anything but certain that I had the right man. He seemed a desperate, callous, and daring fellow, and but for the canny way in which he had been led to the place, would, I feel sure, have given us a world of trouble to capture. But once fairly limed, he became but a quaking coward. I did not understand his terror till I learned that he did not know that Jessie Aimers had been rescued, and her life saved. There was a visionary gallows before the villain at the moment seen only by himself. We were smiling all round, but there wasn’t a ghost of a smile left in him. After he had emitted a very brief declaration, he was locked up; and next day a man came through and took him back to the town he had left so suddenly. Jessie Aimers still persisted in her silence, and the only charge which could justify Smeaton’s detention was one of salmon poaching. The evidence took some time to collect, and when the trial came on, Jessie Aimers was just able to drag herself out of bed and be present. Smeaton was found guilty, and fined heavily, with an alternative of imprisonment, which every one said would be his reward. But to the astonishment of all, and the disgust of Jessie’s father, the fine was paid. No one but Smeaton then knew that the money had been furnished by Jessie Aimers; and yet when the brute was set at liberty, and she waited at the Court entrance to see him and speak with him as he passed out, he was seen by many to push the loving girl violently from him with some imprecation, and walk off with a servant girl of evil reputation named Dinah King. Jessie pressed back the rising tears, and was able to draw on a faint smile before she was joined by her father. Her father had almost to carry her home, and every one looking on that pale face and drooping form declared that Jessie was not long for this world.