“Guilty!”
She stood by his side again before the judge and heard the words of death fall from his lips, this time with blanched face and cold little fingers locked in agony.
Again the gates at Sing Sing closed, and a woman turned her footsteps toward the Governor’s Mansion at Albany.
CHAPTER XXXV — BETWEEN TWO FIRES
Ruth trembled at the thought of her appeal to King. She knew his iron will, his intense love, and the certainty with which he had long regarded their coming union. His ambitions were still mounting, and daily with better assurances of success. His party had chosen another man their candidate for the Presidency, and had been overwhelmed in defeat, while he had been re-elected Governor by a larger plurality.
He received her with grave tenderness.
“Morris,” she cried, pathetically, seizing his hand and holding it, “he is not guilty of murder. Everything has been against him in these trials. They were not fair. He killed that man in what men have always called a fair fight. You are a manly man. You believe in justice. You will not let them kill him!”
She could feel the strong man’s hand tremble in hers, looked up into his face, and saw a tear quiver on his lashes.