“I do not say it will be easy, or without danger. I only know that between you and I. . .we’ve got to find a way.” He stiffened. “Look at me, Purceville, square in the eye. As you love your sister, and on your word as an Englishman, will you help me to free her? For I tell you, in the eyes of God we can do no less.”
Stephen did not answer at first, but stood returning his captor’s firm gaze. “Why do you ask me to swear as an Englishman? What makes you think any promise will bind me?”
“Because I know that’s important to you. And because I believe that in spite of yourself, deep down, you are an honorable man.” The other turned away. “Listen to me. Sooner or later you’ve got to choose between good and evil, right and wrong. There’s no middle ground. And the line between them’s got nothing to do with country, or birthright, but the way a man acts in the role, the place he’s been given. I’m asking you now, not as a Highlander to a Red-coat, a commoner to nobility, or any other distinction you care to draw. I’m asking you as a man, to another man. Won’t you help me, in what we both know is right?”
“You’re very naive.”
“No. God damn it, Purceville, listen! No man has greater reason to hate and mistrust than I have. You’ve taken everything: my youth, my health, my home, and now the only ones I love in all the world. But I refuse to hate you. I refuse to stoop so low, to believe in so little, to sell my honor and my hope for that bastard emotion. There is no greater defiance than that.
“Think! Have you never loved someone you should have hated? Or held on to something you were told you must surrender? We share the same needs, the worst of us, as we share the same flesh. Stephen. You and I, we’ve got to trust each other. We’ve got to get them out.”
“While you hold the gun, and I dig the grave?”
“No.” Michael opened his coat, and tucked the pistol once more beneath his belt. “Come back to the house with me now---don’t try anything foolish---and I’ll find you something to eat. By rights I should dig this grave myself.”
“And the horse?”
“I will use it to bear the body, and keep it close to me at all times. I said trust, Stephen, not stupidity. Trust isn’t blind, any more than faith is, if it’s real.”