"I do not say positively that I should have done so," he said, in a
confidential parenthesis, "but I fear I could not have resisted that
duty."
"Dree out the inch when ye've tholed the span," cried Matthew; "I'd
nivver strain lang at sic a wee gnat as that."
Without condescending to notice the interruption, his reverence
proceeded to say he had recently learned that it had been the
intention of the judges on the circuit to recommend Angus Ray, the
lamented departed, as a justice for the district. This step had been
in contemplation since the direful tragedy which had recently been
perpetrated in their midst, and of which the facts remained still
unexplained, though circumstantial evidence pointed to a solution of
the mystery.
When saying this the speaker turned, as though with an involuntary and
unconscious gaze, towards the spot where Rotha stood. He had pushed
past the girl on coming through the porch without acknowledging her
salutation.
"And if Angus Ray had lived to become a justice," continued the
Reverend Nicholas, "it very likely must have been his duty before God
and the King to apprehend his son Ralph on a charge of treason.
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