Story of a Sin Author:Helen Mathers Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: STORY OF A SIN. BOOK I.—SOWN. CHAPTER I. ' Angel of the Sin, Such as thou standest—pale in the drear light— Which rounds the rebel's work with Maker'... more »s wrath.' ' Martha Mistake, you are found guilty by your own confession, and on the clearest possible evidence, of the murder of an infant, name unknown, ia the Shifting Pool, in the village of Lovel, five and a half years ago; and though the recommendation to mercy will be forwarded in due course, I can hold out no hope that the sentence I am about to pass on you will be commuted.' And the judge proceeded to pass sentence of death in the usual way. Sordid and inexpressibly mean in the faint light of dawn looked the court in which these words were spoken; the sentence itself seemed too fine a thing for the wretch who received it, her lips partingin an audible ' Thank God !' as the judge ceased to speak, and, jerking aside the black cap, threw his scarlet robes about him, and instantly left the court. A clamour of tongues broke out on his departure, and a trampling of feet set in towards the one narrow exit; not a glance of curiosity, not a word of pity, was flung towards the prisoner in the dock ; every emotion usual to the occasion seemed to be in abeyance, as jurymen and spectators and officials hurried to quit the place, where for so many weary hours they had been incarcerated. One person alone kept his place—a man in the prime of manhood and full intellectual vigour, who throughout the trial had sat by the judge's side, keenly watching the progress of the case, and still kept his gaze fixed on the prisoner, who, in the very act of removal, had thrust aside the gaoler's arm to look back and return that curiously intent gaze. For a minute she hesitated, plunging in his eyes a strange look, to which he had...« less