My wretched entanglement when I was a
boy ruined everything. But when I persuaded you into a secret marriage
with me, I meant to make it right when the other one died. And you
found it out and left me. If I treated you badly, you treated me badly,
too."
He knew the long chin of the Joneses. He could imagine Maria lifting her
slim chin. She did not speak.
"I came over here to begin life again. When you ran off to your friends,
what was there for me to do but take to the navy again or sail for
America? Kaskaskia was the largest post in the West; so I came here. And
here I found your family, that I thought were in another Territory. And
from the first your brother has been my enemy."
His sulky complaint brought no response in words; but a strangling sob
broke all restraint in the angle of the wall.
"Maria," exclaimed the startled doctor, "don't do that. You excite
yourself."
In her paroxysm she rolled down on the stone floor, and he stooped in
consternation and picked her up. He rested his foot on the ledge where
she had sat, and held her upon his knee.
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