“Yes, I have heard it rumored.”
“As you may imagine, that did not help the home atmosphere. It did not tend to make Nellie cordial. In fact, you must often have wondered at my indifference to your offers of better positions. Nellie had threatened to have me arrested as a thief if I should attempt to leave Hilltop; and though it would not have been very difficult to prove that I was not Lee, it would have been confoundedly awkward to defend myself as Vickers, and be extradited back to New York.”
“Yes, it is a pretty predicament,” said Overton, “but there are still some minor points I do not understand. For instance, I can’t see any reason why you have not told your cousin—Miss Nellie, I mean—that you are not Lee.”
“Why, I have. I did at once. She laughed in my face and intimated that I had always been an infernal liar. You see, one of the troubles is that as soon as I told them that I was Lee, every one remembered me perfectly. Why, sir, it was like a ray of light when you said you found me changed. No one else did.”
“I see,” said Overton. “And now one thing more. Why didn’t you bolt at once?”
“I’ve just told you.”
“What, a threat of arrest? Hardly strong enough as a motive for a man like you. You have taken bigger risks than that, in your time. Why did you not take the chance now?”
Vickers paused, and a slight frown contracted his brow. “It would be hard to say—” he began, and stopped again. The two men looked at each other and Overton smiled.
“Might I offer a possible explanation?” he said.
“Oh, very well,” returned Vickers. “Yes. I don’t want to leave her. Is that so odd?”