Tom's face, which had brightened as the stranger commenced, became clouded ere the remarks were finished, and when they terminated he burst into tears. "Oh, sir!" he sobbed, "have pity on a poor misguided lad, who never meant evil to any one--who is as innocent of the crime of which he is accused as you are. Save me, sir--oh, save me! if not on my own account, at least on that of my poor mother, who will break her heart if I am condemned!" "I would willingly save you if I could," was the rejoinder; "but I cannot influence juries--I cannot sway the court." "And must I die, then? Must I, before my time, go down to my grave dishonoured and disgraced? Oh, sir, if it had pleased Heaven to visit me with a deadly sickness, I would have left the world without one sigh except for my mother! But to be degraded as a felon--to be branded as a murderer--it is too--too much!" He became so agitated that grief choked his utterance. The stranger, obviously affected, took his hand. "Tom, have you firmness? There is a way, perhaps." "How?" exclaimed the lad, eagerly. "This room is only one storey from the ground, and escape is possible." "Escape! No, no! The windows are barred with iron, besides, if I escape, it looks like guilt, and I cannot bear that." "But will staying behind prove your innocence? Will your suffering the last penalty of the law convince the world that you did not commit the murder?" "True--very true! If I live, my innocence may yet be proved. But how to get through the window?" "That can be easily managed, if you will act like a man. It is now early. I will be with you again before the prison shuts. Remember, not one word to your mother. You may console her by saying that your agent--for such I am--has given you hopes. Nothing more. Remember!" So saying, he departed, leaving Tom to meditate upon this extraordinary expedient. It was rather late when the stranger, who called himself Mortlake, returned. Tom had kept his promise, and, by affording his mother hopes of an acquittal, contrived to infuse a happiness to which her bosom had been for many a week a stranger.