"Dare not?"
"I have committed a crime. If I do not pay for it in this life I must do so hereafter. Therefore I ask for my punishment now."
The Governor got the better of his emotion.
"So you wish to resign your office and ask me to order your arrest? Well, I won't do it. I am the only authority to whom you can resign and I decline to accept your resignation—I refuse to transmit it to the Home Authorities. What you wish to do would undermine the stability of law and the authority of Government. It would humiliate me and destroy my daughter's happiness. Therefore I not only refuse to receive your resignation. I forbid it."
Stowell hesitated for a moment and then said,
"In that case, your Excellency, you will force me to denounce myself."
"Denounce....? You mean in open Court?"
"Yes, it will be my duty, and I shall be compelled to do it."
The Governor's wrath became rage. With a ring of sarcasm in his voice he said,
"Very well! Very well! I cannot prevent you. Denounce yourself in open Court if you are so unwise, so insane. But understand—if you are compelled to do your duty, I shall be compelled to do mine also. After you have made your public confession and the Courts have dealt with you, I shall issue the warrant just the same. You say the fugitives have gone to a foreign country, but no foreign country will refuse to give up a condemned murderess. The woman shall be brought back and executed according to the sentence you pronounced upon her. More than that, your friend, your confederate, shall be brought back also, and dealt with according to his crime. Therefore your public confession will be of no avail. It will be an empty farce, ruining three lives that might otherwise have been saved."