There was a stain of earth on it.
Then they drew Sim up in front of it. When his eyes fell on the white,
upturned face, he uttered a wild cry and fell senseless to the floor.
Ha! The murmur rose afresh. Then there was a dead silence. Rotha was
the first to break the awful stillness. She knelt over her father's
prostrate form, and said amid stifling sobs,--
"Tell them it is not true; tell them so, father."
The murmur came again. She understood it, and rose up with flashing
eyes.
"_I_ tell them it is not true," she said. Then stepping firmly to the
bedside, she cried, "Look you all! I, his daughter, touch here this
dead man's hand, and call on God to give a sign if my father did this
thing."
So saying, she took the hand of the murdered man, and held it
convulsively in her own.
The murmur died to a hush of suspense and horror. The body remained
unchanged. Loosing her grip, she turned on the bystanders with a look
of mingled pride and scorn.
"Take this from heaven for a witness that my father is innocent."
The tension was too much for the spectators, and one by one they left
the room.
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