The confession may be briefly summed up as follows:
The first item was that he had sought to win the affections of Marah
Rocke, the supposed wife of Major Ira Warfield; he had sedulously
waylaid and followed her with his suit during the whole summer; she
had constantly repulsed and avoided him; he, listening to his own
evil passions, had bribed her maid to admit him in the dark to
Marah's cabin, upon a certain night when her husband was to be
absent; that the unexpected return of Major Warfield who had tracked
him to the house, had prevented the success of his evil purpose, but
had not saved the reputation of the innocent wife, whose infuriated
husband would not believe her ignorant of the presence of the
villain in her house; that he, Gabriel Le Noir, in hatred as well as
in shame, had forborne until now to make the explanation, which he
hoped might now, late in life as it was, bring the long-severed pair
together, and establish Marah Rocke and her son in their legal and
social rights.
The second item in the black list of crime was the death of his
elder brother, whom he declared he had not intended to kill. He said
that, having contracted large debts which he was unable to pay he
had returned secretly from his distant quarters to demand the money
from his brother, who had often helped him; that, meeting his
brother in the woods, he made this request.
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