"Now Heaven forbid! Oh, Thomas, then mount and ride after him."
"I will, and this very moment."
He saddled Black Dick, and loaded his pistols for the journey; but, ere he went, a pale face looked out into the yard, and a finger beckoned. It was Mercy. She bade him follow her. She took him to her room, where their child was sleeping; and then she closed, and even locked the door.
"No soul can hear us," said she; "now, look me in the face, and tell me God's truth. Who and what are you?"
Griffith shuddered at this exordium; he made no reply.
Mercy went to a box, and took out an old shirt of his; the one he wore when he first came to the "Packhorse." She brought it to him and showed him "G. G." embroidered on it with a woman's hair. (Ryder's.)
"Here are your initials," said she, "now leave useless falsehoods; be a man, and tell me your real name."
"My name is Griffith Gaunt."
Mercy, sick at heart, turned her head away; but she had the resolution to urge him on. "Go on," said she, in an agonized whisper: "if you believe in God, and a judgment to come, deceive me no more. The truth! I say: the truth!"
"So be it," said Griffith, desperately: "when I have told thee what a villain I am. I can die at thy feet, and then thou wilt forgive me."