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162 and walked to the window, where he stood with his back to his mother, affecting to whistle to a dog without; "David, I call you to witness this handkerchief, and what has now been said; and remember, she does not deny that she left it here."

One honest feeling had a momentary ascendancy in David's bosom; and he had risen from his seat with the determination to disclose the truth, but he was checked by the recollection that he should have to restore the money, which he had not yet disposed of. He thought, too, that his mother knew, in her heart, who had taken the money; that she would not dare to disclose her loss, and if she did, it would be time enough for him to interpose when Jane should be in danger of suffering otherwise than in the opinion of his mother, whose opinion, he thought, not worth caring for. Therefore, when called upon by his mother, he made no reply, but turning round and facing the accuser and the accused, he looked as composed as any uninterested spectator.

Mrs. Wilson proceeded, "Restore me my money, or abide the consequences."

"The consequences I must abide, and I do not fear them, nor shrink from them, for I am innocent, and God will protect me."

At this moment they were interrupted by the entrance of Edward Erskine; and our poor heroine, though the instant before she had felt assured and tranquil in her panoply divine, burst into tears, and left the room. She could not endure the thought of degradation in Erskine's