Suddenly she controlled herself and grasping one of the arms of the chair looked round at her silent companion.
"You must save him," she said in agonised tones, "you must save them both! Do not tell me you cannot--oh, do not tell me that!" It was a passionate and heart-broken appeal, such a one as few men would or could resist, coming as it did from a helpless and miserably unhappy woman.

Whether the vicar was wise in giving the answer he did, it would be hard to say: but he was a man who honestly tried to do his best.
"I will try, my dear lady," he said, making a great resolution.

Mrs.
Goddard took his hand and pressed it in both of hers, and the long restrained tears flowed fast and softly over her worn cheeks.

For some moments neither spoke.
"If you cannot save both--you must save--Mr.Juxon," she said at last, breathing the words rather than speaking them.
The vicar knew or guessed what it must cost her to hint that her husband might be captured.

He recognised that the only way in which he could contribute towards the escape of the convict was by not revealing his hiding-place, and he accordingly refrained from asking where he was concealed.