“I must confess,” he went on, “that I never felt so mean in all my life as when I saw him turn white about the mouth when the jury brought in their verdict; and then, when you jumped up so brave and eager, and declared he was not guilty, I was so near confessing the whole thing that Tom laid a heavy hand on me and told me, with a look in his eye that meant business, that he’d kill me on the spot if I made so much as a sign. Of course, I did not dare to move after that,” he went on, with a deprecating look into the fair girl’s reproachful eyes.
“But there is such a thing as turning State’s evidence. Couldn’t you have done that, and then, if this other one was more guilty than you, he would have suffered the penalty, and you would have gone free?” Editha asked eagerly.
“I thought of that, miss, and I know Tom suspected me, too, for he dogged me all the time; and then, I’d been entangled in so many other things, I should probably have got deeper into the mire. We reasoned that they would be easy with the young chap—he’d only have a short sentence—when, if they’d caught us, we’d have had ten or fifteen years for being old hands at the business.”
“It was a wicked, cruel thing to do, to let an innocent man suffer as he suffered!” Editha exclaimed, forgetting for a moment, in her indignation, that she was speaking to a dying man.
“I know it—I see it now, miss, and I’ve been afraid to die with that on my mind; perhaps, if I confess the whole, I shall feel easier. I’ll tell you the whole story, if you like,” he returned, humbly.
“Yes, do,” she cried, eagerly. “It can do no harm to confess it now, and will be an act of justice to the innocent—it will clear Mr. Wayne from the disgrace that otherwise must always rest upon him.”
“Wayne! Yes, that was his name. What was the other? It was a sort of high-sounding one, if I remember right,” he asked.
“Earle Wayne was the name,” Editha replied, with a rising flush as she pronounced it.
Whether it was “high-sounding” or not, it was the dearest name in all the world to her, and she could not speak it without a thrill.
“He was a particular friend o’ yours, wan’t he?” he inquired, with, a quick, searching look into the glowing face.