“And then to attentive ears he repeated all the loving, confiding and encouraging words of the little bride to her imprisoned husband.
“The arrival of the counsel, Mr. Rocke, interrupted this tête-à-tête.
“Joseph Wyvil introduced the visitor to Joe.
“And then when the three men were seated—the lawyer on the solitary wooden chair and Joseph and Joe side by side on the narrow cot—the young prisoner told his story, of how he was returning home from the Orton post-office to Hayhurst Farm, when he accidentally fell in with a gang of boys who told him they were going on a lark and pressed him to join them; how, partly from curiosity to know what they were going to do and partly from willingness to oblige them, he joined the gang without the faintest suspicion that they intended to do any unlawful deed, and that the stopping of the stage coach and the murder of the lawyer came upon him with the sudden shock and horror of an earthquake.
“‘I said the murder of the lawyer, but I should rather have said the death of the lawyer, for I am sure it was an accident.’
“‘An accident! Why, he was certainly shot by one of the assailants!’ said Mr. Rocke.
“‘No, he was shot by himself.’
“‘By himself!’ exclaimed Messrs. Rocke and Wyvil in a breath.
“‘Yes; listen,’ said Joe. ‘Now that I can look back coolly on all that happened and put things together, I can understand much that at the time of the action was incomprehensible to me. And I am sure that no violence was intended beyond the seizure of a document in the green bag of the family solicitor. When the coach was overturned I thought it was an accident, and as soon as I recovered from the momentary shock I ran to the rescue. In the mêlée, through the obscurity, I saw two men struggling—one of the gang—Thomas Estel—the other a passenger of the coach—the lawyer. The first was trying to get possession of the bag, the second was holding it fast to his side with one hand, and with the other drawing a pistol from his breast pocket, which he leveled at his assailant. Estel struck the muzzle of the pistol up, and it went off, shooting the lawyer under the chin. There! I saw all that,’ said Joe. ‘And the next minute the posse was upon us and I was in custody. All the rest of the gang had fled.’
“‘And as usual,’ added Joseph Wyvil—‘as usual, the only guiltless one of the party became the scapegoat for the guilty. Have any arrests been made since?’