"And for how long?"
"Eighteen months had passed before we heard any tidings. Then there came news that Colonel Lefroy was dead."
"The husband?"
"We did not know which. They were both Colonels."
"And then?"
"Did he tell you that I went down into Mexico?"
"Never mind what he told me. All that he told me were lies. What you tell me I shall believe. But tell me everything."
There was a tone of complete authority in the Doctor's voice, but mixed with this there was a kindliness which made the schoolmaster determined that he would tell everything as far as he knew how. "When I heard that one of them was dead, I went away down to the borders of Texas, in order that I might learn the truth."
"Did she know that you were going?"
"Yes;—I told her the day I started."