"
"I was but a short-sighted fool, and no prophet," I rejoined, striving
hard to keep the bitterness of soul out of my words. "At the moment it
seemed the only way out of the pit of doubt into which my word to
Colonel Tarleton had plunged you. But there was another motive. You saw
the paper I signed that night, with Lieutenant Tybee and your father's
factor for the witnesses?"
"Yes."
"Do you know what it was?"
"No."
"'Twas the last will and testament of one John Ireton, gentleman, in
which he bequeathed to Margery, his wife, his estate of Appleby
Hundred."
"Appleby Hundred?" she echoed. "But my father--"
"Your father holds but a confiscator's title, and it, with many others,
has been voided by the Congress of North Carolina. Richard Jennifer is
my dear friend, and you--"
"I begin to understand--a little," she said, and now her voice was low
and she would not look at me. Then, in the same low tone: "But now--now
you would be free again?"
"How can you ask? As matters stand, I have marred your life and Dick's
most hopelessly. Do you wonder that I have been reckless of the hangman?
that I care no jot for my interfering life at this moment, save as the
taking of it may involve you and Richard?"
"No, surely," she said, still speaking softly. And now she gave me her
eyes to look into, and the hardness was all melted out of them. "Did you
come here, under the shadow of the gallows, to tell me this, Monsieur
John?"
"There shall be no more half-confidences between us, dear lady.
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