"He took it and looked at it, looked at me--I had forgotten him, I must confess,--" she went on brokenly,--"and then he handed it back to Captain Pearson and--and said it was correct--the signature, I mean."
"He knew, think you?" asked her lover, with deadly calmness.
"Yes, he knew," she faltered.
"And the sentry--our unheeded escape?"
"Edward took his place--I might as well tell you all now," continued the girl, desperately.
"Ah!" he said, coldly and sternly; "and do you know, Lady Elizabeth, what the penalty is for such actions as his?"
"No," she replied, in alarm; "I never thought. They will not harm him. He is the son of the admiral--what is it?"
"They will shoot him, or hang him like a dog to the very yard-arm prepared for me!" he answered with stern emphasis.
"No, no! It is not possible!" she cried, appalled at the naked fact.
"Ay, but it is," he replied; "and it is through your actions, and my blind acquiescence therein, that this honorable gentleman is done to death. This puts another face on the whole thing. You have made me a craven; I am dishonored, his life is sacrificed for me!"