Page:The Millbank Case - 1905 - Eldridge.djvu/220

 "If the man has been unjustly accused, I hope it may prove so," Trafford said. "He goes directly home, of course."

The priest smiled.

"I did not expect to see him again, so had no occasion to know."

Convinced that the other was absolutely on guard, and that even if he knew anything beyond what he had told—of which Trafford felt considerable doubt—it was not to be extracted from him, Trafford again commended the lad Étienne to his care, and turned to the matter of a conveyance to Carrytunk on the road to Millbank. At parting, he said:

"If I accept your assurance as to the innocence of this man, it is none the less true that some one employed him to rob me, and his companion lost his life because of the attempt. He could not have told of this without telling who that was."

The priest smiled, but not in a way that encouraged Trafford to hope for information, and the event proved him wise not to do so.

"If he told me aught that I have not repeated," the other answered, "it was to obtain God's pardon,