'You!' 'Yes,' she said, with indescribable earnestness.

'But why ?' 'To make me easy in this jail.

To make the time 'twixt this and death, pass pleasantly.

For my good--yes, for my good, of course,' he said, grinding his teeth, and smiling at her with a livid face.
'Not to load you with reproaches,' she replied; 'not to aggravate the tortures and miseries of your condition, not to give you one hard word, but to restore you to peace and hope.

Husband, dear husband, if you will but confess this dreadful crime; if you will but implore forgiveness of Heaven and of those whom you have wronged on earth; if you will dismiss these vain uneasy thoughts, which never can be realised, and will rely on Penitence and on the Truth, I promise you, in the great name of the Creator, whose image you have defaced, that He will comfort and console you.