“That was an engagement for a’ the days of your life. You hae broken it.”
“The law excused and encouraged me to do so.”
“Were you happy in that course?”
“About as unhappy as I could be. I was sure Neil had been hardly dealt with, that advantage had been taken of his terror and grief, when he found 344 himself in prison. I am sure the lawyer he employed was really seeking Reginald’s favor, and practically gave Neil’s case away, but I was angry at Neil’s want of spirit and pluck, in his own defense. Reginald told me that he cried in the dock, and I shed a few passionate tears over his want of courage and manliness.”
“Poor Neil! If you had stood by him, he would have stood by himself. Remember, Roberta, that he was only just out of his college classes, and had had neither time nor opportunity to make friends; that his mither was dying, and that we had no money to defend him; that his wife had deserted him, and that he is naturally a man of little courage, and you will judge him very leniently.”
“Reginald told me he was saving money in order to run away from me, and——”
“If he was saving money to run awa’ with, he intended to take you with him. If he was going awa’ alone, a few pounds would hae been all he needed. And it seems to me you were the runaway from love and duty. But it is little matter now, who was most to blame. Life is all repenting and beginning again, and that is everything that can be done in this case.”
“I will start for New York tomorrow. Can you get Doctor Trenabie here for me?”
“Do you know him?”
“He is a distant relative both of the Raths and the Ballisters.”