lieutenant gulston and his companion had not long to wait to learn the verdict, for in a few minutes the people began to pour out of the house, and a constable came out, and, after looking round, walked up to the lieutenant.

"mr. gulston," he said, "your presence will be required to-morrow at eleven o'clock at mr. volkes's. captain mervyn will be brought up there at eleven o'clock to-morrow."

"very well," mr. gulston replied. "what verdict have the coroners jury found?"

"they have found captain mervyn guilty of wilful murder," the man replied.

the next morning the inquiry was heard before mr. volkes and two other magistrates, and the doctor's evidence, that of mr. gulston, the gardener, the cook, and the constable who found the glove, was considered sufficient. mr. carne was not summoned, and although ruth powlett's name was called, she did not answer to it, dr. arrowsmith explaining to the bench that she was too ill to be present. captain mervyn was asked if he had any questions to ask the witnesses, or any statement to make; but he simply said that he should reserve his defence, and the case was then adjourned for a week to see if any further evidence would be forthcoming, the magistrates intimating that unless some altogether new light was thrown upon the subject they should commit the prisoner for trial.

very gravely and silently the men who composed the coroner's jury walked down to carnesford; scarce a word was spoken on the way, and a stranger, meeting them, might have supposed, not unnaturally, that they were returning from a funeral. the news had arrived before them, having been carried down at full speed by one of the few villagers who had been present. it had at first been received with absolute incredulity. the idea that captain mervyn should kill margaret carne seemed so wild a proposition that the first person to arrive with it was wholly disbelieved, and even the confirmation of those who followed him was also doubted. people, however, moved towards the foot of the hill to meet the jury, and a small crowd had collected by the time they had come down. the jury, upon being questioned, admitted that they had found ronald mervyn guilty, and when the fact was grasped, a sort of awed silence fell upon their hearers.

"why, whatever were you all thinking of?" one of the men said. "why, you must have been downright mad. you find that captain mervyn was the murderer of his own cousin, and mr. carne your own landlord, too! i never heard tell of such a thing."

the jury, indeed, were regarded almost as culprits; even to themselves now, their verdict seemed monstrous, though at the time the evidence had appeared so strong that they had felt themselves unable to resist the coroner's expressed opinion that, upon the evidence before them, they had no course open but to return a verdict of wilful murder against ronald mervyn.

"you will hear about it presently, lads," hiram powlett said. "if you had been in our place, and had heard what we have heard, you would have said the same. i should have no more believed it myself this morning, if any one had told me that captain mervyn had murdered his cousin, than i should if they had told me that the mill stream was running the wrong way; but now i sees otherwise. there ain't one of us here as wouldn't have given another verdict if we could have done so, but having heard what we heard there weren't no other verdict to be given. i would have given a hundred pounds myself to have found any other way, but i couldn't go against my conscience; and besides, the coroner told us that if captain mervyn is innocent, he will have full opportunity of proving it at the trial. and now i must be off home, for i hear mr. carne sent down ruth, as soon as she had given her evidence, in one of his carriages."

ruth had so far recovered that she was sitting on a chair by the fire when her father entered. she had heard nothing of what had taken place at the inquest beyond her own evidence, and she looked anxiously at her father as he slowly took off his coat and hat and hung them up, and came over to the fire beside her.

"how are you feeling now, ruth? you were looking sadly when you were in the court."

"i believe you will kill the child between you," mrs. powlett said, testily, as she entered with the dinner. "any one can see with half an eye that she ain't fit to be going before a court and giving evidence after the shock as she 'as had. she ought to have been left quiet. if you had half the feeling of a man in you, hiram powlett, you wouldn't have let them do it. if i had been there i should have got up and said: 'your worship can see for yourself as my daughter is more fit to be in bed than to be worrited and questioned here. she ain't got nothing to tell you more than you knows yourself. she just came in and found her mistress dead, and that's all she knows about it.'"

"and what verdict did you find, father?" ruth asked, as soon as her mother had finished.

"'what verdict did you find, father?' ruth asked."

"verdict! what verdict should they find," mrs. powlett said, angrily, "but that they just knew nothing at all about it?"

"that wasn't the verdict, hesba," hiram powlett said, as he seated himself at the table; "i wish to god it had been. there was things came out at the trial as altogether altered the case. we found as one had been quarrelling with miss carne, and threatening what he would do to her. we found as something belonging to him had been found close at hand, where it could only have been put somewhere about the time of the murder. we found as the person couldn't tell us where he had been at the time; and though it were sorely against us to do it, and seemed the most unnatural thing in the world, we had to find a verdict of wilful murder against captain mervyn."

ruth had risen from her seat as her father was speaking; her face had grown whiter and whiter as he went on, and one hand had gone to her heart, while the other clutched at the back of the chair. as he finished she gave a sudden start, and burst into a scream of hysterical laughter, so startling hiram powlett and his wife, neither of whom was looking at her, that the former upset his chair as he started to his feet, while the latter dropped the plate she was in the act of setting before him.

for some minutes the wild laughter rang through the house. hesba had at once taken the girl in her arms, and seated her in the chair again, and after trying for a minute or two vainly to soothe her, turned to hiram.

"don't stand staring there, hiram; run for the doctor. look what you have done, with your stories about your courts and your verdicts. you have just scared her out of her mind."

fortunately as hiram ran up into the village street he saw dr. arrowsmith—who had waited at the hold, talking over the matter to some of his neighbours—driving down the hill, and at once fetched him in to ruth.

"the girl is in violent hysterics, hiram," the doctor said, as soon as he had entered. "carry her upstairs, and lay her down on the bed; it's no use trying to get her to drink that now"—for mrs. powlett was trying in vain to get ruth to take some brandy—"she cannot swallow. now i will help you upstairs with her. the great thing is to get her to lie down."

it seemed hours to hiram powlett, as he listened to the wild screaming and laughter overhead, but in reality it was not many minutes before the doctor came down again.

"i am going to drive home and get some chloroform," he said, "i shan't be two minutes gone;" and before hiram could ask a question he hurried out, jumped into his dogcart, and drove off.

there was no change until his return, except that once or twice there was a moment's cessation in the screaming. hiram could not remain in the house, but went out and walked up and down until the doctor returned.

"no change, i hear," the latter remarked, as he jumped down from the dogcart, for ruth's cries could be heard down at the gate of the garden.

then he hurried on into the house and upstairs, poured some chloroform into a handkerchief, and waved it in ruth's face. gradually the screams abated, and in two or three minutes the girl was lying quiet and still.

"now, lift her head, mrs. powlett, while i pour a few drops of this narcotic between her lips."

"can she swallow, sir?"

"not consciously, but it will find its way down her throat. i don't like doing it, but we must send her to sleep. weak as she is, and shaken by all she has gone through, she will kill herself if she goes on with these hysterics."

as soon as ruth showed signs of returning consciousness, the doctor again placed the handkerchief near her face, keeping his fingers carefully on her pulse as he did so.

this was repeated again and again, and then the opiate began to take effect.

"i think she will do now," he said, at last; "it's a hazardous experiment, but it was necessary. now you can go down to your husband for a few minutes, and tell him how she is. i shall remain here for a time."

"she is off now," mrs. powlett said, as she came downstairs.

"asleep?" hiram asked.

"well, it's sleep, or chloroform, or laudanum, or a little of each of them," mrs. powlett said. "anyhow, she is lying quiet, and looks as if she were asleep. dear, dear, what things girls are. and to think that all these years we have never had a day's sickness with her, and now it all comes one on the top of the other; but, of course, when one's got a husband who comes and blurts things out before a girl that's that delicate that the wind would blow her over, what can you expect?"

"i didn't mean——" hiram began, but hesba cut him short.

"that's the way with men; they never do mean; they never use the little sense they have got. i don't expect that there's a man, woman, or child in carnesford that wouldn't have known better. here you had her down here for well nigh a month as bad as she could be; then she gets that terrible shock and goes off fainting all day; then she has to go into court, and as if that wasn't enough for her, you comes and blurts out before her that you found as captain mervyn murdered his cousin. i wouldn't call myself a man if i was you, hiram powlett. i had a better idea of you before."

"what could i have said?" urged hiram, feebly.

"said?" hesba repeated, scornfully. "in the first place you need not have said anything; then if you couldn't hold your tongue, you might have said that, of course, you had found a verdict of wilful murder against some one or other, which would be quite true; but even if it hadn't been you need not have minded that when it comes to saving your own daughter's life. there, sit down and have some food, and go out to your mill."

hiram powlett had no appetite whatever, but he meekly sat down, ate a few mouthfuls of food, and then, when hesba left the room for a moment, took his cap from the peg and went out. mrs. powlett ate her meal standing; she had no more appetite for it than her husband, but she knew she should not have an opportunity of coming downstairs again when once the doctor had left, so she conscientiously forced herself to eat as much as usual, and then, after clearing away the things, and warning the little servant that she must not make the slightest sound, she went into the parlour and sat down until the doctor came downstairs.

"she is quiet now. i will come back again when i have had my dinner. sit close by her, and if you see any signs of change, sprinkle a little water on her face and send for me; and you may pour a few drops of brandy down her throat. if her breathing continues regular, and as slow as it is at present, do nothing until i return."

for a fortnight ruth powlett lay between life and death, then she turned the corner, and very slowly and gradually began to recover. six weeks had passed by, and she was about again, a mere shadow of her former self. no further evidence of any kind had been obtained with reference to the murder at the hold. mrs. mervyn had a detective down from london, and he had spent days in calling at all the villages within twenty miles in the endeavour to find some one who had heard a horseman pass between the hours of twelve and three. this, however, he failed to do; he had tracked the course of ronald mervyn up to ten o'clock, but after that hour he could gather no information. even a reward of fifty pounds failed to bring any tidings of a horseman after that hour. ronald mervyn had followed a circuitous route, apparently going quite at random, but when heard of at ten o'clock he was but thirteen miles distant, which would have left an ample margin of time for him to have ridden to the hold and carried out his designs.

the description of margaret carne's watch and jewellery had been circulated by the police throughout england, but so far none of it appeared to have been offered for sale at any jeweller's or pawnbroker's in the country. in south devonshire, people were divided into two parties on the subject of ronald mervyn's guilt or innocence. no one remained neutral on the subject. some were absolutely convinced that, in spite of appearances, he was innocent. others were equally positive that he was guilty. the former insisted that the original hypothesis as to the murder was the correct one, and that it had been committed by some tramp. as to the impossibility of this man having killed margaret carne in her sleep, they declared that there was nothing in it. every one knew that tramps were rough subjects, and this man might be an especially atrocious one. anyhow, it was a thousand times more probable that this was how it came about than that ronald mervyn should have murdered his cousin.

the other party were ready to admit that it was improbable that a man should murder his cousin, but they fell back upon the evidence that showed he and no one else had done it, and also upon the well-known curse upon carne's hold, and the fact that mervyn on his mother's side had the carne blood in his veins. every one knew, they argued, that mad people murder their husbands, wives, or children; why, then, not a cousin?

there was a similar difference of opinion on the subject among the little conclave in the snuggery at the "carne's arms."

jacob carey and the old clerk were both of opinion that ronald mervyn was guilty, the former basing his opinion solely upon the evidence, and the latter upon the curse of the carnes. the landlord maintained a diplomatic reserve. it was not for him to offend either section of his customers by taking a decided side. he therefore contented himself by saying, "there's a great deal in what you say," to every argument brought forward in the coffee-room, the tap-room, or snuggery.

the "carne's arms" was doing a larger trade than it had ever done before. there were two detectives staying in the house, and every day coaches brought loads of visitors from plymouth; while on saturday and monday hundreds of people tramped over from the railway station, coming from plymouth and exeter to have a view of the house where the tragedy had taken place. the pressure of business was indeed so great that the landlord had been obliged to take on two extra hands in the kitchen, and to hire three girls from the village to attend to the customers in the coffee-room and tap-room.

hiram powlett was captain mervyn's champion in the snuggery. it was true he had few arguments to adduce in favour of his belief, and he allowed the smith and reuben claphurst to do the greater part of the talking, while he smoked his pipe silently, always winding up the discussion by saying: "well, neighbours, i can't do much in the way of arguing, and i allow that what you say is right enough, but for all that i believe captain mervyn to be innocent. my daughter ruth won't hear a word said as to his being guilty, and i think with her."

hiram powlett and his wife had indeed both done their best to carry out the doctor's orders that nothing should be said in ruth's hearing of the murder. but the girl, as soon as she was sufficiently recovered to talk, was always asking questions as to whether any further clue had been discovered as to the murderer, and she was indeed so anxious and urgent on the matter that the doctor had felt it better to withdraw his interdict, and to allow her father to tell her any little scraps of gossip he had picked up.

"the idea has evidently got possession of her mind, hiram," the doctor said. "she was very attached to her mistress, and is no doubt most anxious that her murderer shall be brought to justice. i have changed my opinion, and think now that you had better not shirk the subject. she has been a good deal more feverish again the last day or two. of course she must stay here now until after the trial, which will come off in a fortnight. when that is over, i should strongly recommend you to send her away from here for a time; it doesn't matter where she goes to, so that she is away from here. if you have any friends or relations you can send her to, let her go to them; if not, i will see about some home for convalescent patients where she would be taken in. there are several of them about; one at the isle of wight, i believe. that would suit her very well, as the climate is mild. anyhow, she must not stop here. i shall be heartily glad myself when the trial is over. go where i will i hear nothing else talked about. no one attends to his own business, and the amount of drunkenness in the place has trebled. if i had my way, i would have a regulation inflicting a heavy fine upon every one who after the conclusion of the trial ventured to make any allusion, however slight, to it. it's disgusting to see the number of people who come here every day and go up the hill to have a look at the house."

as the day for the trial approached, ruth powlett became more and more anxious and nervous about it. it kept her awake at nights, and she brooded on it during the day. for hours she would sit with her eyes fixed upon the fire without opening her lips, and the doctor became seriously anxious lest she should be again laid up before it became necessary to give her evidence.

there was indeed a terrible fight going on in ruth's mind. she knew that captain mervyn was innocent; she knew that george forester was guilty, and yet the memory of her past life was still so strong in her that she could not bring herself to denounce him, unless it became absolutely necessary to do so to save ronald mervyn's life. ronald had insulted and threatened her mistress, and had not george forester been beforehand with him, he might have done her some grievous harm, or he might perhaps have murdered lieutenant gulston, for whom ruth felt a strong attraction because she had discerned that margaret loved him.

it was right, then, that ronald mervyn should suffer, but it was not right that he should be hung. if he could clear himself without her being obliged to denounce george forester, let him do so; but if not, if he were found guilty, then she had no other course open to her. she must come forward and produce the knife and describe how she had found it, and confess why she had so long concealed it. all this would be very terrible. she pictured to herself the amazement of the court, the disapproval with which her conduct would be received, the way in which she would be blamed by all who knew her, the need there would be for going away from home afterwards and living somewhere where no one would know her story; but not for this did she ever waver in her determination. ronald mervyn must be saved from hanging, for she would be as bad as a murderess if she kept silent and suffered him to be executed for a crime she knew that he had not committed.

still she would not do it until the last thing; not till everything else failed would she denounce george forester as a murderer. she loved him no longer; she knew that had he not been interrupted he would perhaps have killed her. it was partly the thought of their boy-and-girl life, and of the hours they had spent together by the side of the dare, that softened her heart; this and the thought of the misery of the kind old man, his father.

"i don't understand ruth," the doctor said one day to mrs. powlett. "she ought to get better faster than she does. of course she has had a terrible shock, and i quite understand its affecting her as it did, just as she was recovering from her former illness; but she does not mend as she ought to do. she has lost strength instead of gaining it during the past week. she is flushed and feverish, and has a hunted look about her eyes. if i had known nothing of the circumstances of the case i should have said that she has something on her mind."

"there is nothing she can have on her mind," hesba powlett replied. "you know we had trouble with her about that good-for-nothing george forester?" the doctor nodded. it was pretty well known throughout the village how matters stood.

"she gave him up weeks and weeks ago, just at the time he went away, when he was wanted for the share he had in that poaching business up in the carne woods. she told her father that she saw we had been right, and would have nothing more to say to him. that was a week or more before she had that fall on the hill, and i have never heard her mention his name since. i feel sure that she is not fretting about him. ruth has always been a sensible girl, and once she has made up her mind she wasn't likely to turn back again."

"no, i should not say that she was fretting on his account, mrs. powlett. fretting in young women shows itself in lowness of spirits and general depression and want of tone. in her case it appears to me to be rather some sort of anxiety, though about what i cannot guess. if it had been any other girl in the village, i should have had my suspicion that she had taken a fancy in some way to ronald mervyn, and was anxious about the trial; but of course that is out of the question in ruth's case. no doubt she is anxious about the trial, and has a nervous dread of being obliged to stand up and describe the scene again in a crowded court, and perhaps be questioned and cross-questioned. it's a trying thing for any one; still more so, of course, for a girl whose nerves have been shattered, and who is in a weak and debilitated state of health. well, i shall be heartily glad when it's all over, and we settle down into our ordinary ways."

"what do you think will be the verdict, sir? do you think they will find captain mervyn guilty?"

"i do not like to give an opinion, mrs. powlett. it depends so much on the jury, and on the way the counsel and judge put it, but i hardly think that the evidence is sufficient to hang a man. there are, of course, grave grounds for suspicion, but i should doubt whether any jury would find mervyn guilty upon them. it would be amply sufficient if it were merely a case of robbery, but men don't like to find a verdict when there is a possibility of their finding out too late to save a man's life that they have been mistaken. at any rate, mrs. powlett, do your best to keep ruth's thoughts from dwelling on the subject. i wish it was summer weather, and that she could sit out in the garden. of course she is not strong enough to be able to walk, except for a hundred yards or so, but i would get her to take a little turn, if it's only once round the garden now and then."

"i don't think she would walk if she could, sir. when i was speaking the other day about her getting well enough to go out for walks, she turned white and shivered, and said she didn't want to go outside the door again, not for ever so long. that fall she got seems to have changed her altogether."

"well, well, we must get her away, as i said, mrs. powlett. she wants more bracing air than you have got here, and to have the wind either coming straight off the sea or else to be in some hilly, breezy place."

"i am sure i don't know how it's to be managed. she can't go by herself, and i don't see how i am to leave hiram."

"you will have to leave hiram for a day or two, and take her wherever we fix upon as the best place and settle her there. hiram will get on very well without you for a day or two. she is no more fit to travel alone than a baby. however, i must be off. keep up her spirits as well as you can, and don't let her brood over this business."

at last the day when ronald mervyn was to be tried for murder arrived. the assizes were at exeter, and never in the memory of man had there been such numerous applications to the sheriff and other officials for seats in the court. the interest in the case had extended far beyond the limits of devonshire. the rank in life of the victim and the accused, the cold-blooded nature of the murder, and the nature of the evidence rendered the affair a cause célèbre, and the pros and cons of the case were discussed far and wide.

the story of the curse of carne's hold had been given at full length by the reporters of the local papers and copied by all the journals of the kingdom, and the fact that madness was hereditary in the family went for much in the arguments of those who held that captain mervyn was guilty. had it not been for this, the tide of public feeling would have been distinctly in favour of the accused.

by itself, the rest of the evidence was inconclusive. men who have been jilted not unfrequently use strong language, and even threats, without anything coming of it. the fact of the glove having been found where it was was certainly suspicious, but, after all, that in itself did not count for much; the glove might have been blown to where it was found, or a dog might have picked it up and carried it there. a dozen explanations, all possible even if not probable, could be given for its presence, and before a man could be found guilty of murder upon circumstantial evidence, there must be no room whatever left for doubt. therefore, the quarrel, the finding of the glove, and even the fact that captain mervyn was unable to prove an alibi, would scarcely have caused public opinion to decide against him had it not been for the fact of that taint of insanity in his blood. call a dog mad and you hang him. call a man mad and the public will easily credit him with the commission of the most desperate crimes; therefore, the feeling of the majority of those who assembled at the court house at exeter, was unfavourable to ronald mervyn.

the attitude of the prisoner did much to dispel this impression; he was grave, as one might well be with such a charge hanging over him, but there was nothing moody or sombre, still less wild, in his expression; he looked calmly round the court, acknowledged the encouraging nods given him by some of his fellow officers, who had come over to bear witness on the point of character, and who to a man believed him to be innocent. certainly there was nothing to suggest in the slightest degree the suspicion of madness in his appearance; and many of those who had before been impressed by the story of the family taint, now veered round and whispered to their friends that the story of insanity was all nonsense, and that ronald mervyn looked wholly incapable of such a crime as that of which he was accused.

dr. arrowsmith had brought ruth over under his personal charge. as she came out, when he called in his trap to take her to the station, he was surprised at the change which had taken place since he saw her the evening before. the anxious and nervous expression of her face was gone, and she looked calm and composed. there was indeed a certain determined expression in her face that led the doctor to believe that she had by a great effort conquered her fear of the ordeal to which she was to be exposed, and had nerved herself to go through it unflinchingly. as they journeyed in the train she asked him:

"shall we be in the court all the time, doctor?"

"no, ruth, i do not think you will be in court. i fancy the witnesses remain in a room together until they are wanted. i myself shall be in court, as the solicitor for the defence is a personal friend of mine, and will give me a place at his table."

"do you think, sir, that after i have given my evidence they would let me stand there until it is done?"

"i should hardly think so, ruth, and i am sure it would be a very bad thing for you."

"i have a particular reason for wanting to be there, dr. arrowsmith, and to hear it to the end. a most particular reason. i can't tell you what it is, but i must be there."

the doctor looked at her in surprise.

"you think you will not feel the suspense as much if you are in the court as you would outside ruth? is that what you mean?"

"that's it, partly, sir. anyhow, i feel that i must be there."

"very well, ruth, if you see it in that way, i will do what i can for you. i will ask captain hendricks to speak to the policemen in the court, and tell them to let you remain there after you have given your evidence. there will be a great crowd, you know, and it will be very close, and altogether i think it is foolish and wrong of you."

"i am sorry you think so, sir; but i do want to be there, whatever happens to me afterwards."

"of course you can do as you like, ruth; but the probability is that you will faint before you have been there five minutes."

"i will try not to, sir, and i don't think i shall. it is only when i get a sudden shock that i faint, and i don't think i can get one there."