Page:The Necromancer, or, The Tale of the Black Forest Vol. 2.djvu/105

 houses and estates. He firmly denied to have had any share in the church robbery, but pointed out three of his fellow prisoners who had been concerned in it; whether Peter had been accessary in it or not he could not tell.

The day following the three robbers charged with the sacrilege were brought to the bar, but none of them would plead guilty. Being put to the rack, the first of them, an aged man, bore the three degrees without uttering a word, and died a few hours after he had been re-conducted to the prison. The second confessed at the third degree, that he had been accessary in the church robbery; but declared that the third was innocent; and that he himself had been persuaded by Father Peter, to commit the sacrilege.

Now the hoary dissembler was ordered to the bar: Having heard the charges of the justice with a firm countenance, he replied, with great equanimity.