“Peter Fae, if any one can answer that question, 162 thou can; thou and thy daughter Margaret.”
“I have heard thou hast said this before now.”
“Ay, I have said it often, and I think it.”
“Now, then, listen to me, and see how thou hast done me wrong.”
Then Peter pleaded his own cause, and he pleaded it with such cleverness and eloquence that Suneva quite acquitted him.
“I believe now thou art innocent,” she answered calmly. “The minister told me so long ago. I see now that he was right.” Then she offered Peter her hand, and he felt so pleased and grateful that he walked with her all the way to the town. For Suneva had a great deal of influence over the men who visited Torr’s, and most of them did visit Torr’s. They believed all she said. They knew her warm, straightforward nature, and her great beauty gave a kind of royal assurance to her words.
Peter was therefore well pleased that he had secured her good will, and especially that he had convinced her of his entire innocence regarding Jan’s life. If the subject ever came up over the fishers’ glasses, she was a partisan worth having. 163 He went home well satisfied with himself for the politic stroke he had made, and with the success which had attended it.
Margaret had seen her father talking and walking with Suneva, and she was very much offended at the circumstance. In her anger she made a most imprudent remark—“My mother not a year dead yet! Suneva is a bold, bad woman!”
“What art thou thinking of? Let me tell thee it was of Jan Vedder, and Jan Vedder only, that we spoke.”
Not until that moment had it struck Peter that Suneva was a widow, and he a widower. But the thought once entertained was one he was not disposed to banish. He sat still half an hour and recalled her bright eyes, and good, cheerful face, and the pleasant confidential chat they had had together. He felt comforted even in the memory of the warm grip of her hand, and her sensible, honorable opinions. Why should he not marry again? He was in the prime of life, and he was growing richer every year. The more he thought of Suneva the warmer his heart grew toward her.