If it was true then—"Oh, God, let it be true!" I prayed, mutely. If it were true then, how blind I had been! Sacrifice—patience—hope—. Would he have done so much for someone he despised—even for revenge? I began to remember—
There were voices outside—loud, excited, almost hysterical—Was Bill there? I waited for him in my chair. I had not moved. He would find me as he had left me. Perhaps he had come back to tell me what he had meant. Charity—Love.
The door flew open and Sarah burst in. She was crying. I saw that at once, and wanted to say to her,
"So you have heard? It isn't true, Sarah, it wasn't charity, after all, it was love—"
But she came straight to me and caught desperately at my hands,
"Miss Mavis,—the cane—it's been set afire—Silas is down there, and Dr. Denton—"
Then I awoke.
"Dr. Denton!" I had her by the shoulders, I was shaking her—"Not Dr. Denton!"
"Yes, Miss Mavis. Juan crept up here to warn him. But those devils fired the cane while he was in this very house. Fields of it in flame, and Silas there—"
She was in a chair now, her apron twisted between her work-worn fingers, the sobs taking her by the throat.