"
"Poor woman!" he said in a whisper. Then he turned to the canvas and,
after a moment, filled in from memory the face of Mark Telford, she
watching him breathlessly, yet sitting very still.
After some minutes he drew back and looked at it.
She rose and said: "Yes, he was like that; only you have added what I saw
at another time. Will you hear the sequel now?"
He turned and motioned her to a seat, then sat down opposite to her.
She spoke sadly. "Why should I tell you? I do not know, except that it
seemed to me you would understand. Yet I hope men like you forget what is
best forgotten; and I feel--oh, do you really care to hear it?"
"I love to listen to you."
"That girl was fatherless, brotherless. There was no man with any right to
stand her friend at the time--to avenge her--though, God knows, she wished
for no revenge--except a distant cousin who had come from England to see
her mother and herself; to marry her if he could. She did not know his
motives; she believed that he really cared for her; she was young, and
she was sorry for his disappointment. When that thing happened"--her eyes
were on the picture, dry and hard--"he came forward, determined--so he
said--to make the deceiver pay for his deceit with his life.
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