I cannot be worse, an' I will tell no man how I spent it, till I
have an opportunity of clarin' myself."
"If you spent it innocently," returned the magistrate, "you can have no
hesitation in making the disclosure we require."
"I will not mention it," said the other; "I was disgraced, an' that is
enough. I think but little of the robbery."
Brookleigh understood him; but the last assertion, though it exonerated
him in the opinion of a man who knew something about character, went far
in that of his friends who were present to establish his guilt.
They then withdrew; and it would have been much to young Lamh Laudher's
advantage if this private interview had never taken place.
CHAPTER V.
The next morning O'Rorke and his wife! waited upon Mr. Brookleigh to
state, that in their opinion it would be more judicious to liberate
Nell M'Collum, provided he kept a strict watch upon all her motions.
The magistrate instantly admitted both the force and ingenuity of the
thought; and after having appointed three persons to the task of keeping
her under surveillance, he set her at large.
This was all judicious and prudent; but in the mean time, common rumor,
having first published the fact of young Lamh Laudher's cowardice, found
it an easy task to associate his name with the robbery. His very father,
after their last conference with the magistrate, doubted him; his
friends, in the most sympathetic terms, expressed their conviction of
his guilt, and the natural consequence resulting from this was, that he
found himself expelled from his paternal roof, and absolutely put out
of caste.
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