Fabiola : or, The church of the catacombs - Digital Repository Services

at his clerk, who sat at a table near him ; but the clerk held
down his head, iuid evidently did not intend to speak unless ho
was openly appealed to.
"
Mr. Benuet, speak for me. I want to tell my own story.
I know it is irregular."
There was some talk among those assembled there.
" Is Mr. Bennet watching the case for you ? Is he your appointed
legal friend in tlrs matter?"
" "
No," said Peter. I want no advice, and I can speak the
truth for myself. "
People consulted aga ; n together.
" After the evidence has been heard you can speak."
Peter was silent.
Then came the evidence of the knife.
The ironmonger in whose shop Peter had bought the kcife
said it was such s he sold, and bore the mark of the maker
with whom he dealt. He f aid that the knives had only arrived
on that Saturday afternoon, and so could not have been
so-d on any other day. Tin n the superintendent said he
was prepared !o prove that t>vo knives h d been sold to Peter
and t AO to another person on the same evening.
The other person was a stranger to the shopman ; indeed, he
knew very few peop'e as yet, bci g himself a btranger
in the
town. But the other person was a much older man a roughlooking
man, with black hair : not a man in Peter's position of
life. He might not know that man again ; but he knew Peter.
He had seen Peter before, and asked who he was. He knew
Peter very well by sight. He h d sold him two knives, and
had been pa;d for them that night. There was more evidence
fr ,ni people w o had seen Peter that night, and could si.eak to
the way by which he went home ; and then, on repeating his
request, Peter was allowed to tell his own story. He told it in
told it in Miss Lance's
Father Joseph and Fred Drake had arrived before the
c :sa was finished, and now Father Joseph had stayed with
Peter. He was to be the first iriend who would see him in
jaiL
T. e fir t questions asked of Mr. Breward by his good aunts
were, how Peter had behaved, and how he would be treated.
He satisfied them on Loth points. He had behaved surpris-
ingly well yes ; just with the natural openness and simplicity
oi' a man who was good, and innocent of the charge made
against him.
" He spuke for himself, and spoke clearly. But that about
the knives is very queer. One can't help feeling that whoever
owntd that stained knife was" the man who killed James
Gardener."
" But PetT says he only bought one knife, and only possessed
one sucu knife. "
and we believe him."
" Yes ;
" Then he is innocent ; and an innocent man can't be punis'
ed."
" But we must prove him to be innocent," said Mr. Brew-
ard.
Tnen these kind ladies knew how great a danger sur-
rounded their yo ng friend how hard it ; might be to prove
the truth aud how ,
condemning was the evidence about the
knife.
"But it is a lie," said Miss Jane.
" Can you prove it to be a lie ?" said her nephew.
"
There
are two Peter and the shopman and, speaking of the same
transaction, they contradict each othe~. Peter may be supposed
to have an interest in telling a lie the ; shopman cannot
be suspected of any desire to convict Peter. When he was
asked to give an account of the transnction he gave it. He
did not know what Peter had already said. Ho did not expect
that their accounts would differ. "
A.\D ,V. I 27
" I am sure that Peter is right," said Miss June.
"So am I." said her ncjilu w ; "but who can prove him
right?"
He got up and said "Good-bye." The ladies, onre more
alone, wandered together up stairs into I'eter'n roin, and up
to the glass bower on the ruof, whence ther could KCI- the walla
of the jail wLere Peter waited. Ti.ey vero v< y
They lind not anything to do but to pray ; and pray ihty
did. No souls ever prayed more sincerely for help from
Heaven : they were ready to say that there was no help in
man.
CHAPTER V.
Peter was not without sympathy. He was well treated. He
had a courtyard to walk in, and he could have all that J
quired. But he was in jail as one suspected of being
a mur-
derer.
Can any one imagine what that must have been ? It was
true that of the friends who knew him scarcely one believed
him guilty. Fattier Joseph had left him with the most cousoling
words, both as to help and confideace. He had commanded
him not to grieve.
"You have had nothing but good happen to you nil days.
Be content to suffer. If you have shown a g od example in
prospeiity do not shrink from the oppor unity of serving God
in adversity. Be faithful still. Be trusting still. B'ill I've
close to God. Be content to suffer." His words stayed in
Peter's mind, and they strengthened him.
He conformed to rules without a word; submitted to all that
there was to submit to without an t.b ervatiou; saw his friends
when they were allowed to visit him, took what they provided
for his comfort with cheerful thanks, and sent pleasant mes-
his accurate way, r.s he had already
house but it ended i i his ; being committed on suspicion of
beii-g the murderer of James Gardener. He was committed on
remand. The investigation would go on bu ; f in the midst of
,
great regret, Peter was taken to jail and Mr. Breward went
;
back to tell i is aunts what had happened. He found that Dr.
Bea iclerk had got there before him.
sages to Miss Lai ce and her sister.
He was remanded twice. It had got to be wearing to human
nature. At last he felt quite as it' people werj planning against
his life. He could scarcely keep from complaining when his
friends visited him.
Mrs. Beauchamp came, and even Mrs. Mills; she came with
Mrs. Beauchamp. She wanted to cry over Peter, ai.d to (ell
him that she would never believe that Le had murdered h r
brother "no, not whatever they did to him !"
It made Peter shrink away from her. How could any one be
supposed to believe such a thing ? and what could be douo to
him to him, an innocent man ? The he hear i that Dr. Beau-
clerk had gone to London to talk to Mrs. Peuwarue. He h.i