"You won't give me up, Mr. Robbins," pleaded Burns in an agony of terror. "I--I am not fit to die. Besides, I am a young man. I am not yet forty. I will turn over a new leaf. I will, truly."
"It's high time you did. It is a long time since you earned an honest living."
"I know it, Mr. Robbins. I have been a bad man, but it is not too late to reform. If you'll let me go I will leave Oreville to-night, and I will never trouble you again."
"It isn't me you have troubled. It is the boy. You robbed him, or tried to do it, at Oak Forks, and now you have turned up here."
"I didn't know he was here. Truly I didn't."
"You didn't know I was here, or I think you would have given the place a wide berth."
"I am very sorry for what I did, and if you'll only spare my life I'll promise to reform."
"I haven't much faith in your promises, but I'll leave it to the boy. Ernest, what shall I do with this man?"
Ernest had come forward, and was standing but a few feet from Luke and his captive.
"If he promises to reform," said Ernest, "you'd better give him another chance, Luke."