"What is it you know?" he asked.
"I know that your father is innocent! Yes, innocent!" replied Manoel,
"and that he was sentenced to death twenty-three years ago for a
crime which he never committed!"
"He has told you all about it, Manoel?"
"All about it," replied the young man. "The noble fazender did not
wish that any part of his past life should be hidden from him who,
when he marries his daughter, is to be his second son."
"And the proof of his innocence my father can one day produce?"
"That proof, Benito, lies wholly in the twenty-three years of an
honorable and honored life, lies entirely in the bearing of Joam
Dacosta, who comes forward to say to justice, 'Here am I! I do not
care for this false existence any more. I do not care to hide under a
name which is not my true one! You have condemned an innocent man!
Confess your errors and set matters right.'"
"And when my father spoke like that, you did not hesitate for a
moment to believe him?"
"Not for an instant," replied Manoel.
The hands of the two young fellows closed in a long and cordial
grasp.
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