It is not
enough for you to say that you were there; you must prove it."
"The proof is in my succumbing to the shock of hearing Oliver's
name associated with this crime. Had he been guilty--had our
separation come through his crime and not through my own, I should
have been prepared for such a contingency, and not overwhelmed by
it."
"And were you not prepared?"
"No, before God!"
The gesture accompanying this oath was a grand one, convincing in
its fervour, its majesty and power.
But facts are stubborn things, and while most of those present
were still thrilling under the effect of this oath, the dry voice
of District Attorney Andrews was heard for the first time, in
these words:
"Why, then, did you, on the night of Bela's death, stop on your
way across the bridge to look back upon Dark Hollow and cry in the
bitterest tones which escape human lips, 'Oliver! Oliver! Oliver!'
You were heard to speak this name, Judge Ostrander," he hastily
put in, as the miserable father raised his hand in ineffectual
protest. "A man was lurking in the darkness behind you, who both
saw and heard you. He may not be the most prepossessing of
witnesses, but we cannot discredit his story."
"Mr. Andrews, you have no children. To the man who has, I make my
last appeal. Mr. Renfrew, you know the human heart both as a
father and a pastor. Do you find anything unnatural in a guilty
soul bemoaning its loss rather than its sin, in the spot which
recalled both to his overburdened spirit?"
"No.
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