“Well?”
“What do you think he did next?”
“Cannot guess—drowned himself?”
“No, and this proves what I say, that a murderer and a hero are all but one. He surrendered himself to justice, and stood mute at the bar, and, in order to secure his estates to his surviving child, he had the resolution to die under the dreadful punishment of peine forte.”
“What is that, lawyer?”
“Death by iron weights laid on the bare body until the life is crushed out of it.”
“Dreadful! And did he secure his estates to his child by suffering such a death?”
“He did. He stood mute at the bar, and let judgment go against him without trial. It is all in black and white. The Crown cannot confiscate a man's estate until he is tried and condemned.”
“What of an outlaw?” asked Ralph somewhat eagerly.
“A man's flight is equal to a plea of guilty.”