They soon reached the office, and Ray, sparing not himself at all, began with the night of the fire, and told of his discovery, of his false notion of duty, and of his strange interview with the two men in the city, and how he had outwitted them.
Mr. Carleton was the first to speak after he had finished. "Your mistake, Ray," he said, "was perhaps a natural one; it certainly was one many an older person might have made. But you can now see that, after all, it was a course of deception. You were living a lie; for you were saying by your silence that you did not know who the criminals were."
"Those men must fear your testimony greatly, Ray, to offer you such an inducement to preserve silence," remarked Mr. Woodhull. "You say their names were Wilson and Gregory? I thought Hyde's lawyer was named Sanford."
"Oh, these men were acting for Sanford," replied Mr. Bacon. "Wilson is probably some friend of Hyde's, and Gregory is some lawyer employed for this work. It isn't likely that either of the men gave his right name, and that room was one they had just hired for this interview. They intended to cover up their own tracks whether they succeeded or failed in their attempted bribery. Blake knew of that meeting, for all the forenoon and up to the time of his arrest he was around the depot, and he told the operator if any message came for him he should be within call. Those fellows intended to telegraph him if they could not buy Ray into silence. He got the better of them by telegraphing first. I have been thinking, Ray, whether your father would not be willing to turn state's evidence, and go on the stand as a witness against the others. What do you think?"
Ray gave him a grateful look, as he replied:
"I don't know, sir. I cannot help feeling that father was forced into this thing, or led into it while under the influence of liquor. When sober, he is usually ready to do the fair thing; it certainly can do no harm to make him the offer. I want to see him, and tell him just how I came to do as I have done. So, if Mr. Woodhull is willing, I will come up to the village to-morrow, and we will go and see him."
Mr. Woodhull readily assented, and then Ray and he drove off home. The next day the lad returned to the village, and, in company with Mr. Bacon, he visited the jail. They found Mr. Branford sober, but sullen; and at first he paid little attention to Ray's story. As the boy went on, however, to describe his encounter with Hyde, on the night of the fire, his father manifested some interest; and before he had got through with the account of his own struggle to believe it was right to shield his father in his crime, and the story of his interview with the two men in the city which had so plainly revealed his duty to him, the old man broke down. Great tears streamed down his cheeks, and as soon as he could control himself, he said:
"Did they think, Ray, they could bribe you with money to do their dirty work? I could have told them better than that; but I knew nothing of this undertaking. Don't think I hold anything against you, lad, for causing my arrest. I've been tempted to give myself up a half dozen times since the fire. Perhaps a few years in jail will make a man of me—for it will keep me sober. It's my only hope of salvation, anyway; and, Ray, you'll sometimes come to see me; and you'll never forget to pray for your old father."
"Never!" replied Ray, emphatically. "And perhaps, father, this is God's way of bringing you to himself. I have prayed for you, night and day, ever since I gave myself to him. I couldn't bear that you should be sent to prison; for I thought it would so harden you, that you would never come to Jesus. But God's ways are not as our ways; and it may be God's hand is leading you where you will think more of him, and learn to love him."
The old man bowed his head on his hands and wept like a child, and said: