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thing I might reveal? He who betrays confidence to save himself, may utter falsehoods also from the same urgent temptation.

And this is your determination? [ bows.]

You screw your sense of honour, noble Baron, to the romantic pitch. Consider better of it. Is this your final determination? [ bows again.] Then, though most painfully, we must proceed to give sentence as the law directs.

Stop, my Lords. In this extremity, I am warranted to bring forward evidence to exculpate my client, which might not otherwise have been justifiable. This holy Father hath that to reveal which concerns the life and honour of the prisoner, and I claim that he may be heard.

Reveal penitential confessions!

Yes, my Lord, to save the life of an innocent person; and show me that law of God or man which forbids it.