"
"Both directly and indirectly?"
"The whole affair is involved in mystery. I have, of course, my doubts
and surmises. These I must not name, lest I might accuse persons who
like myself are innocent of the offence. Hear me, Juliet Whitmore! while
I raise this fettered right hand to heaven, and swear by that awful
Judge before whose dread tribunal I must in a few hours appear, that I
am guiltless of the crime for which at the age of one-and-twenty, in the
first bloom of youth and manhood, I am condemned to die!"
There was a slight convulsion of the features as he uttered the last
words, and his lips quivered for a moment. Nature asserted her right
over her sentient creature; and the thoughts of death awoke at that
moment a strange conflict in his breast. So young--so highly gifted--so
tenderly beloved; it was indeed hard to die--to die a death of infamy,
amidst the curses and execrations of an insulting mob. Oh, how gladly
would he have seen the bitter cup pass from his lips!
Juliet regarded her unhappy lover with a sad and searching glance. But
innocence is strong; he shrunk not from the encounter. His eyes were
raised to hers in confidence and love, and the glow of conscious worth
irradiated his wan and wasted features. Alas! what years of sorrow had
been compressed into one short week!
"I believe you, Anthony, to be an injured man.
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