“I forgive you willingly,” Anna said, bending over him. “It has all been a mistake, hasn’t it?”
“No more talking,” the doctor interposed.
“I want two words—with Miss Pellissier alone,” Hill pleaded.
The doctor frowned.
“Remember,” he said, “you are not by any means a dying man now, but you’ll never pull through if you don’t husband your strength.”
“Two words only,” Hill repeated.
They all left the room. Anna leaned over so that he needed only to whisper.
“Tell your sister she was right to shoot, quite right. I meant mischief. But tell her this, too. I believed that our marriage was genuine. I believed that she was my wife, or she would have been safe from me.”
“I will tell her,” Anna promised.