“‘Poor Lil!’ was all the boy said, as the bailiffs led him away.
“And the court was adjourned.
CHAPTER XXVIII
IN THE TOILS OF FATE
“Joe was conveyed back to his prison cell and locked up and left there in a state of stupefaction.
“Joseph Wyvil, who had heard the verdict, was not able to get near the unfortunate boy, who had been hurried from the dock to the prison van by the officers in attendance. And though he followed the prisoner with all speed to the jail, he was not admitted to see him because it was after the hour of closing.
“He managed to see the jail chaplain and implore him, late as it was, to visit the desolate boy in his cell that night.
“The reverend gentleman willingly promised to do so, and Joseph Wyvil left the prison, with what a heavy heart! to go to his most unhappy sister and answer as best he might the agonizing questions she would be sure to put to him.
“Ah! the dreadful intelligence had preceded him to Lil’s lodgings, and prostrated her frail frame to the very verge of death.
“He found the doctor in attendance, and the young wife, pale as a corpse, sleeping heavily under the influence of a powerful narcotic.
“‘How did she hear it?’ was one of the first questions put by the unhappy brother.