The Shadow of a Crime

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The Shadow of a Crime

The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Shadow of a Crime, by Hall Caine This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net
Title: The Shadow of a Crime A Cumbrian Romance
Author: Hall Caine
Release Date: December 6, 2004 [EBook #14262]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
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THE SHADOW OF A CRIME
A CUMBRIAN ROMANCE
by
HALL CAINE
1885
Author of "The Manxman," "The Deemster" etc.
"_Whom God's hand rests on, has God At his right hand_."

NEW YORK HURST & COMPANY PUBLISHERS
1895

TO
MY ABLE FELLOW-JOURNALIST
JOHN LOVELL
WHO IN A DARKER HOUR OF LABOR AND MISGIVING CHEERED ME WITH AN ESTIMATE OF THIS NOVEL THAT THE PUBLIC HAS SINCE RATIFIED.

CONTENTS
Chapter
I.
The City of Wythburn
II. The Crime in the Night
III. In the Red Lion
IV. The Outcast
V. The Empty Saddle
VI. The House on the Moss
VII. Sim's Cave
VIII. Robbie's Redemption
IX. The Shadow of the Crime
X. Mattha Branth'et "Flytes" the Parson
XI. Liza's Wiles
XII. The Flight on the Fells
XIII. A 'Batable Point
XIV. Until the Day Break
XV. Ralph's Sacrifice
XVI. At Sunrise on the Raise
XVII. The Garths: Mother and Son
XVIII. The Dawn of Love
XIX. The Betrothal
XX. "Fool, of Thyself Speak Well"
XXI. Mrs. Garth at Shoulthwaite
XXII. The Threatened Outlawry
XXIII. She Never Told Her Love
XXIV. Treason or Murder
XXV. Liza's Device
XXVI. "Fool, Do Not Flatter"
XXVII. Ralph at Lancaster
XXVIII. After Word Comes Weird
XXIX. Robbie's Quest Begun
XXX. A Race Against Life
XXXI. Robbie, Speed On!
XXXII. What the Snow Gave Up
XXXIII. Sepulture at Last
XXXIV. Fate that Impedes, Fall Back
XXXV. Robbie's Quest Ended
XXXVI. Rotha's Confession
XXXVII. Which Indictment?
XXXVIII. Peine Forte et Dure
XXXIX. The Fiery Hand
XL. Garth and the Quakers
XLI. A Horse's Neigh
XLII. The Fatal Witness
XLIII. Love Known at Last
XLIV. The Clew Discovered
XLV. The Condemned in Doomsdale
XLVI. The Skein Unravelled
XLVII. The Black Camel at the Gate
XLVIII. "Out, Out, Brief Candle"
XLIX. Peace, Peace, and Rest
L. Next Morning
LI. Six Months After

PREFACE.
The central incident of this novel is that most extraordinary of all punishments known to English criminal law, the peine forte et dure. The story is not, however, in any sense historical. A sketchy background of stirring history is introduced solely in order to heighten the personal danger of a brave man. The interest is domestic, and, perhaps, in some degree psychological. Around a pathetic piece of old jurisprudence I have gathered a mass of Cumbrian folk-lore and folk-talk with which I have been familiar from earliest youth. To smelt and mould the chaotic memories into an organism such as may serve, among other uses, to give a view of Cumberland life in little, has been the work of one year.
The story, which is now first presented as a whole, has already had a career in the newspapers, and the interest it excited in those quarters has come upon me as a surprise. I was hardly prepared to find that my plain russet-coated dalesmen were in touch with popular sympathy; but they have made me many friends. To me they are very dear, for I have lived their life. It is with no affected regret that I am now parting with these companions to make way for a group of younger comrades.
There is one thing to say which will make it worth while to trouble the reader with this preface. A small portion of the dialogue is written in a much modified form of the Cumbrian dialect. There are four variations of dialect in Cumberland, and perhaps the dialect spoken on the West Coast differs more from the dialect spoken in the Thirlmere Valley than the latter differs from the dialect spoken in North Lancashire. The patois problem is not the least serious of the many difficulties the novelist encounters. I have chosen to give a broad outline of Cumbrian dialect, such as bears no more exact relation to the actual speech than a sketch bears to a finished picture. It is right as far as it goes.
A word as to the background of history. I shall look for the sympathy of the artist and the forgiveness of the historian in making two or three trifling legal anachronisms that do not interfere with the interest of the narrative. The year of the story is given, but the aim has been to reflect in these pages the black cloud of the whole period of the Restoration as it hung over England's remotest solitudes. In my rude sketch of the beginnings of the Quaker movement I must disclaim any intention of depicting the precise manners or indicating the exact doctrinal beliefs of the revivalists. If, however, I have described the Quakers