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Divining his intention Hannah stepped between him and Rover, on whose
head she laid her hand protectingly, while she said:
"Father, you will not touch the dog, if you value your own safety, for
if you do, every man in Allington shall know what you have done, before
to-morrow dawns. Isn't it enough that you have killed _him_!" and she
pointed shudderingly to the inanimate form upon the floor.
For a moment Peter Jerrold regarded her with the face of a maniac; then
his expression changed, and with a burst of tears and sobs he fell upon
his knees at her feet, and clasping the hem of her dress abjectly in his
hands, besought her to pity him, to have mercy, and save him from the
gallows, for in the first frenzy of fear he felt it would be his life
they would require if once his guilt were known.
"I cannot die a felon's death. You do not want your poor father hung!
Think of yourself; think of Burton; both so young, to carry such a
disgrace all your lives. I did not mean to kill him; God knows I didn't.


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