'Most merciful,' murmured the bishop, bowing his head. 'Has He not shown us how to expiate our sin?'
'Our sin; no, George, I won't agree to that. We have not sinned. We married in the fullest belief that Stephen was dead.'
'My dear, all that is past and done with. Let us look to the future, and thank the Almighty that He has delivered us out of our troubles.'
'Yes, I thank Him for that, George,' said Mrs Pendle, meekly enough.
'That is my own dear Amy,' answered the bishop; and producing his pocket Bible, he opened it at random. His eye alighted on a verse of Jeremiah, which he read out with thankful emotion,—
'And I will deliver thee out of the hand of the wicked; and I will redeem thee out of the hand of the terrible.'
CHAPTER XXXVII
DEA EX MACHINÂ
As may be guessed, Captain Pendle, now that the course of true love ran smoother, was an assiduous visitor to the Jenny Wren house. He and Mab were all in all to one another, and in the egotism of their love did not trouble themselves about the doings of their neighbours. It is true that George was relieved and pleased to hear of Mosk's arrest and confession, because Gabriel was thereby exonerated from all suspicion of having committed a vile crime; but when reassured on this point, he ceased to interest himself in the matter. He was ignorant that his brother loved Bell Mosk, as neither Baltic nor the bishop had so far enlightened him, else he might not have been quite so indifferent to the impending trial of the wretched criminal. As it was, the hot excitement prevalent in Beorminster left him cold, and both he and Mab might have been dwellers in the moon for all the interest they displayed in the topic of the day. They lived, according to the selfish custom of lovers, in an Arcadia of their own creation, and were oblivious to the doings beyond its borders. Which disregard was natural enough in their then state of mind.