I was silent.
"Do you hear me, man?" he demanded.
"I hear," I answered.
He nodded his head and smiled. "I suppose you are wondering why you're still alive, eh?"
"You'll die when I die," I muttered wearily. "You are afraid to kill me, that is why."
"Bosh!" he flashed back. "I have a better reason far. To-morrow she will be my wife indeed—a maid no longer—Pinsent. It was worth keeping you alive to gloat on that."
"Oh! I see."
"But you don't see everything, Pinsent. She insists upon seeing your body to-day in order to be sure that you are dead."
"Ah!"
"She still has a lingering doubt that I have tricked her, and she has sworn on the cross that unless I produce your corpse for her inspection she will take her own life rather than—you can guess what, Pinsent."