Page:The Prime Minister by Hall Caine.djvu/121

Rh enemy Government. Therefore for the sake of my dear children, now totally unprovided for, I cast myself on the clemency of the court.' Verdict: Guilty. Sentence: Death. Afterwards commuted, on the recommendation of Sir Robert Temple, to three years' imprisonment." [While has been reading,  has been listening intently  and going through an agony of astonishment and remorse. When he finishes she staggers forward and, after a great struggle, drops to her knees at his feet.  [In a torrent of emotion.] Let me stay here! Let me stay!  To the danger of my country, the peril of my child?  Oh, let me stay! Let me stay!  Margaret Schiller, who came to my house to betray me?  [Yet more passionately, rapidly, taking hold of his hand.] But I shall be Margaret Schiller no longer. The name and character I assumed when I came here shall be mine as long as I live. Only let me stay, and my people escape, and I shall never see them again. Your child, too, your dear, sweet child shall  Rh