‘Go on,’ said he, in a faint voice.
‘It is written in a great hurry, and very hard to read. It runs thus: “Dearest,—I have no time for explainings nor excuses, if I were disposed to make either, and I will confine myself to a few facts. I was married this morning to Donogan—the rebel: I know you have added the word, and I write it to show how our sentiments are united. As people are prone to put into the lottery the number they have dreamed of, I have taken my ticket in this greatest of all lotteries on the same wise grounds. I have been dreaming adventures ever since I was a little child, and it is but natural that I marry an adventurer.”’
A deep groan from the old man made her stop; but as she saw that he was not changed in colour or feature, she went on—
‘“He says he loves me very dearly, and that he will treat me well. I like to believe both, and I do believe them. He says we shall be very poor for the present, but that he means to become something or somebody later on. I do not much care for the poverty, if there is hope; and he is a man to hope with and to hope from.
‘“You are, in a measure, the cause of all, since it was to tell me he would send away all the witnesses against your husband, that is to be, that I agreed to meet him, and to give me the lease which Miss O’Shea was so rash as to place in Gill’s hands. This I now send you.”’
‘And this she has sent you, Kate?’ asked Kilgobbin.
‘Yes, papa, it is here, and the master of the Swallow’s receipt for Gill as a passenger to Quebec.’
‘Read on.’
‘There is little more, papa, except what I am to say to you—to forgive her.’
‘I can’t forgive her. It was deceit—cruel deceit.’