"Are you prepared to make this statement on paper, if called on?" Mr. Hand hesitated, but said, "Yes." "Then write down that Robert Penfold was innocent, and you are ready to prove it whenever you may be called upon." "Unless your penitence is feigned, you will." "Sooner than that should be added to my crime I will avow all." He wrote the few lines she required. "Now your address, that I may know where to find you at a moment's notice." He wrote, "J. Hand, 11 Warwick Street, Pimlico." Helen then dismissed him, and wept bitterly. In that condition she was found by Arthur Wardlaw, who comforted her, and, on hearing her report of Hand's confession, burst out into triumph, and reminded her he had always said Robert Penfold was innocent. "My father," said he, "must yield to this evidence, and we will lay it before the Secretary of State and get his pardon." "His pardon! when he is innocent!" |