Then he took another spoonful of pudding.

The brothers bent with stern assiduity over their bowls.
"You have hid them away!" shrieked Madelon.

"You have hid them away lest Louis own that he saw blood on my hand, and Richard that he gave me his knife! What have you done with them ?" Not one of the three men spoke.

They swallowed their pudding.
"Father! Abner! Eugene!" said Madelon, "tell me what you have done with my brothers, who can testify that I killed Lot Gordon, and save Burr ?" David Hautville wiped his mouth on his sleeve, rose up, and took his daughter firmly by the arm.
"We know no more what has become of your brothers than you do," said he.

"If they have gone away for the reason you say, your old father would be the first to bring them back, if you were guilty as you say, daughter of mine though you be.