Jacob did not reply. In his soul he believed every step that he had taken against William Leicester to be right, and he felt guiltless of his death, no matter in what form it came; but he knew that argument would never remove the belief that had fixed like a monomania upon that unhappy woman, and wisely, therefore, he attempted none.
"I have told you all," he said, moving toward the door. "In any case my conscience is at rest!"
She did not appear to heed his words, but asked abruptly,
"Are the laws of America strict and searching? Do murderers ever escape here?"
"Sometimes they do, no doubt," answered Jacob, with a grim smile, "but then probably quite as many innocent men are hung, so that the balance is kept about equal."
"And how do the guilty escape?"
"Oh, by any of the thousand ways that a smart lawyer can invent. With money enough it is easy to evade the law, or tire it out with exceptions and appeals."
"Then money can do this?"
"What is there that money cannot do?"