to Rotha even as it always has come to the weary watcher, even as it
always will come to the heartsore and heavy-laden, however long and
black the night.

The girl rose at daybreak, and then she began to review the late turn
of events from a practical standpoint.

Assuming the woman's word to be true, in what respect was the prospect
different for Mrs. Garth's disclosure? Rotha had to confess to herself
that it was widely different. When she told Willy that she could give
up Ralph, were he a thousand times her brother, to such a death of
sacrifice as he had pictured, she had not conceived of a death that
would be the penalty of murder. That Ralph would be innocent of the
crime could not lessen the horror of such an end. Then there was the
certainty that conviction on such a charge would include the seizure
of the property. Rotha dwelt but little on the chances of an innocent
man's acquittal. The law was to her uninformed mind not an agent of
justice, but an instrument of punishment, and to be apprehended was to
be condemned.

Ralph must be kept out of the grip of the law. Yes, that was beyond
question. Whether the woman's words were true or false, the issues
were now too serious to be played with.

She had sent her father in pursuit of Ralph, and the effect of what he
would tell of the forthcoming eviction might influence Ralph to adopt
a course that would be imprudent, even dangerous--nay, even fatal, in
the light of the more recent disclosure.

What had she done? God alone could say what would come of it.