that dreadful-shocking

Oh dear! oh

dear! that ever I should be taken

up for

I had

Why, I never saw the poor gentleman! plenty of money of my own; and my father promised me that he would buy me a silver watch next Christmas, if he got in some of his bad debts; so, you know, what could I want with any body's purse and watch ?"

"To be sure I know that you did not want, and that you did not take the watch; and if you would but eat a bit, you'd have strength and spirits enough to believe that every body else will soon be of my way of thinking. There, that's right; now a draught of home brewed beer. I'll just run down with the things, and see if the baby wants me, and be up again in a minute to hear your story;" so saying, the benevolent creature hastened away. She soon returned, listened to his little tale, and after pouring comfort, like the good Samaritan, into the poor boy's heart, she left him for the night. As soon as Stephen found himself alone, in darkness and in solitude, all his fears came upon him with added force. He knew that it was impossible for him to prove that he had not

done the wicked deed; and he knew too little of his country's laws to feel any hope that they would not hang him upon circumstantial evidence.*

In half an hour, he had so agitated himself with the horrors and terrors of being accused of murder, and of being hanged, that he could scarcely keep himself from dashing his head against the wall: he wrung his hands, sobbed, and groaned, flung himself on the homely bed, called on his mother, and, in short, appeared as if he were quite out of his mind. Suddenly he started up-" Oh! if I could but escape !" exclaimed he, and darting towards the high window, through which the moon beams entered, he leaped up with all his strength in order to reach the bars, but in vain; then he ran to his bedstead and to the table, to try if he could bring either of them under the window to aid him; but alas! they were both fixed to the floor! He now became desperate, and walked about in perfect agony at his disappointment. He felt in

Which means that every circumstance connected with the crime appears to be made clear, except the positive proof of it.

his pockets over and over again for his knife, his favourite "bread and cheese knife," (that knife which Sarah used to joke him about and call his idol; and what boy from eight to fourteen years of age, is without such a one ?) but that old friend was gone; he had lost it in the morning, when he was being conveyed to prison. Just at this moment his foot kicked against something; he stooped to find it, and picked up a fork, which Mrs. Ward had dropped when she went down stairs the first time, and which she had forgotten to look for when she returned. Our poor hero ran with it to the wall under the window, and finding a wide crack between the stones, about three feet from the ground, he inserted the prongs, and the stone being of a soft sandy nature, crumbled fast away from the fork, which Stephen worked round and round, until he opened a space wide enough for him to push his friendly instrument into the hole as far as the handle. He had now a stepping place; and after many, many trials, he at length managed to spring up with one foot on this handle, and, at the same time, to catch one of the iron bars in his hand. He did so; but the next instant

down he came, with a heavy fall, on the floor, bringing the rusty bar with him. He had hurt his head and his elbows, but he cared little for his bruises, in his joy at finding the window bar in his hand. The noise that his fall had made, however, he feared would bring the jailer or his wife up stairs; so he drew the fork out of the hole, put it near the table, and laid himself down on his bed, with his precious bar under him. He had scarcely done so, when one of the turnkeys un locked the door, and came in with a candle, which he brought near to Stephen's closed eyes.

"Why the boy is fast asleep! Missis is always a fancying some noise or another; I told her, and so did master, that she were mistaken; but, according to custom, I was to come and see."

He looked round the room carelessly, and went out, locking the door safely after him. Poor Stephen started up directly, rejoicing in his escape; and instantly proceeded with his work. Again, with great labour, he raised himself on his fork handle; and now finding that he must proceed cautiously, he used his exertion so dexterously, that he soon stood looking out upon the deep blue

sky: he shook the remaining bars, and found only one of them loose, but that was too tight for him to move; and he perceived that the space from which the rusty bar had fallen was too small for him to creep through.

It may appear improbable that in a well regulated county jail, any thing so remiss and romantic as a rusty window bar should be found; but it was the case, nevertheless. Mr. Ward had discovered it himself on that very morning, and had sent to the blacksmith to forge a new one ; the man had measured the window, had forged the bar, and it would have been put in, just before Stephen arrived at the gaol, had not the plumber, who was always employed to solder the bars into the stone, been out at work, at five miles distance. If the prisoner had been a man, and a person of bad character, he would not have been put into this room, but would have shared one, with another of the felons; but Stephen being a mere boy, and evidently unused to bad company, Mr. Ward kindly and judiciously kept him from mingling with the other prisoners, and as the jail was full, excepting this room, he