The
slatternly girl was in attendance, and there was also the pleasant-
faced priest whom Philip and Maurice had encountered in the court. The
priest had come with an acolyte to administer the last rites, and the
woman had made her confession. So intent, however, was Mrs. Murphy upon
the purpose for which she had summoned Ashe that she cried out to him
as he entered, and apparently for the moment forgot all else.
Ashe looked at the priest in apology, but the latter said kindly:--
"Let her speak to you, and then she will be done with things of this
earth."
It was the safety of her husband for which the poor creature was
concerned. It was on her mind that Ashe and Mrs. Fenton could save him
from punishment if they chose. She pleaded piteously with Philip to
have the prisoner set free.
"He'll be all alone of me," she moaned. "That'll be more punishment
than you're thinking, your riverince. He'll come out of jail sober, and
he'll remember how he had me to do for him night and day these long
years. He'll not be liking that, your riverince; and he'll be uneasy to
think maybe he had some small thing to do with it himself.
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