"My poor girl!" said Gell. "If she has anything to say—to confess—it won't hurt so much to say it to somebody else. But of course she hasn't—she can't have."
Stowell felt as if he had been suddenly deprived of the power of speech. Yes, Bessie would confess everything to Fenella. Not merely the birth of her child but also the name of her fellow-sinner—Fenella's desire to punish the guilty man would drag that out of her. Perhaps the confession was going on at that very moment. What a shock for Fenella too! All her high-built faith in him wrecked and broken!
"Well, let us hope...."
"Yes, that is all we can do."
And then the two men parted, Gell returning to his pacing among the tombs of the dead kings and Stowell going out by the Deemster's door.
A few of the spectators at the trial were waiting to see the Deemster off, but he scarcely saw their salutations and did not respond to them.
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
THE TWO WOMEN—THE TWO MEN
On being taken back to her cell Bessie had burst into a fit of hysteria.
"The brutes! They're only trying to catch me out that they may kill me. Why don't they do it then? Why don't they finish me? This waiting is the worst."