"My father--my father!" and flinging her arms around his neck; "oh,
what is it?--what is it?" she continued, breathless, and her voice
choked with sobbing--"what do they say that you have done?"
"Nothing, love--nothing," said he endeavouring to be calm; "it is some
mistake, but some one shall answer for it."
His daughter's arms were forcibly torn from around his neck; and he
was taken before a neighbouring magistrate, by whom the deposition of
Captain Hartley had been received. Harry was that morning committed to
the county prison on a charge of murder. I shall neither attempt to
describe his feelings, nor will I dwell upon the agony which was worse
than death to his poor daughter. She knew her father innocent; but she
knew not his accusers, nor the nature of the evidence which they would
bring forward to prove him guilty of the crime which they imputed to
him.
But the fearful day of trial came. Harry Teasdale was placed at the
bar. The principal witness against him was Captain Hartley. The colour
came and went upon the prisoner's cheeks, as his eye fell upon the
face of his accuser. He seemed struggling with sudden emotion; and
many who observed it took it as a testimony of guilt. In his evidence
Captain Hartley deposed, that he and a part of his crew came upon the
smugglers on the beach, while in the act of concealing their goods;
that he, and the seaman who was murdered by his side, having attacked
three of the smugglers, the tallest of the three, whom he believed to
be the prisoner, with a knife gave the mortal stab to the deceased;
that he raised the weapon also against him, and that he only escaped
the fate of his companion by striking down the arm of the smuggler,
and wrenching the knife from his hands, who then escaped. He also
stated that, on examining the knife, which was of great length, he
read the words, "HARRY TEASDALE," which were deeply burned into its
bone handle, and which led to the apprehension of the prisoner. The
knife was then produced in court, and a murmur of horror ran through
the multitude.
Other witnesses were examined, who proved that, on the day of the
murder, they had seen the knife in the hands of the prisoner; and the
counsel for the prosecution, in remarking on the evidence, pronounced
it to be
"Confirmation strong as holy writ."
The judge inquired of the prisoner if he had anything to say, or aught
to bring forward in his defence.
"I have only this to say, my lord," said Harry, firmly, "that I am as
innocent o' the crime laid to my charge as the child unborn. My poor
daughter and my servant can prove that, on the night when the deed was
committed, I never was across my own door. And," added he, firmly, and
in a louder tone, and pointing to Captain Hartley as he spoke, "I can
only say that he whose life I saved at the peril o' my own has,
through some mistake, endeavoured to take away mine; and his
conscience will carry its punishment when he discovers his error."
Captain Hartley started to his feet, his cheeks became pale; he
inquired, in an eager tone, "Have you seen me before?" The prisoner
returned no answer; and at that moment the officer of the court called
the name of
"_Fanny Teasdale!_"
"Ha!" exclaimed the captain, convulsively, and suddenly striking his
hand upon his breast--"is it so?"
The prisoner bowed his head and wept. The court were stricken with
astonishment.
Fanny was led towards the witness-box; there was a buzz of admiration
and of pity as she passed along. Captain Hartley beheld her--he
clasped his hands together. "Gracious heavens! my own Fanny!" he
exclaimed aloud.
He sprang forward--he stood by her side--her head fell on his bosom.
"My lord!--O my lord!" he cried, wildly, addressing the judge, "I
doubt--I disbelieve, my own evidence. There must be some mistake. I
cannot be the murderer of the man who saved me--of my Fanny's father!"
The most anxious excitement prevailed through the court: every
individual was moved, and, on the bench, faces were turned aside to
conceal a tear.
The judge endeavoured to restore order.
The shock of meeting with Augustus, in such a place and in such an
hour, though she knew not that he was her father's accuser, added to
her agony, was too much for Fanny, and, in a state of insensibility,
she was carried out of the court.
Harry's servant-girl was examined; and, although she swore that, on
the night on which the murder was committed, he had not been out of
his own house, yet, in her cross-examination, she admitted that he
frequently was out during the night without her knowledge, and that he
_might_ have been so on the night in question. Other witnesses were
called, who spoke to the excellent character of the prisoner, and to
his often-proved courage and humanity; but they could not prove that
he had not been engaged in the affray in which the murder had been
committed.
Captain Hartley strove anxiously to undo the impression which his
evidence had already produced; but it was too late.
The judge addressed the jury, and began to sum up the evidence. He
remarked upon the knife with which the deed was perpetrated, being
proved and acknowledged to be the property of the prisoner--of its
being seen in his hand on the same day, and of his admitting the
fact--on the resemblance of the figure to that of the individual who
was seen to strike the blow, and on his inability to prove that he was
not that individual. He was proceeding to notice the singular scene
that had occurred, with regard to the principal witness and the
prisoner, when a shout was heard from the court-door, and a gentleman,
dressed as a clergyman, pressed through the crowd, and reaching the
side of the prisoner, he exclaimed, "My lord, and gentlemen of the
jury, _the prisoner, Harry Teasdale, is innocent_!"
"Thank Heaven!" exclaimed Captain Hartley.
The spectators burst into a shout, which the judge instantly
suppressed, and desired the clergyman to be sworn, and to produce his
evidence. "We are here to give it," said two others, who had followed
behind them.
The clergyman briefly stated that he had been sent for on the previous
evening to attend the death-bed of an individual whom he named, and
who had been wounded in the affray with Captain Hartley's crew, and
that, in his presence, and in the presence of the other witnesses who
then stood by his side, a deposition had been taken down from his lips
an hour before his death. The deposition, or confession, was handed
into court; and it set forth that his hand struck the fatal blow, and
with Harry Teasdale's knife, which he had found lying upon the stern
of his boat on the afternoon of the day on which the deed was
committed--and, farther, that Harry was not upon the beach that night.
The jury looked for a moment at each other--they instantly rose, and
their foreman pronounced the prisoner "_Not Guilty!_" A loud and
spontaneous shout burst from the multitude. Captain Hartley sprang
forward--he grasped his hand.
"I forgive thee, lad," said Harry.
Hartley led him from the dock--he conducted him to Fanny, whom he had
taken to an adjoining inn.
"Here is your father!--he is safe!--he is safe, my love!" cried
Augustus, as he entered the room where she was.
Fanny wept on her father's bosom, and he kissed her brow, and said,
"Bless thee."
"And canst thou bless me, too," said Augustus, "after all that I have
done?"
"Well, well, I see how it is to be," said Harry; and he took their
hands and placed them in each other. I need only add, that Fanny
Teasdale became the happy wife of Augustus Hartley; and Harry, having
acquired a competency, gave up the trade of a smuggler.