"Look at me!" he cried. "This is he that was once Richard Mallard!"
"Ah! Mallard--not Merle."
"Oh, what have I said--what have I said?" cried Merle, with a sudden revulsion of feeling. "I did not mean to tell you my name, I--I----"
"Hush, hush, no harm is done."
"You know my secret; I shall tell you no more. Let me go--let me go. If you would know more, ask Tim. He can tell you why I came here--how bitterly I have suffered at the hands of that woman. And now she would marry you. Avoid her--avoid her, or she will ruin you as she has done me!"
"She will not marry me. I don't love her," said Dan, slowly. "I am in love with your daughter Meg; I want to marry her."
Merle looked at him with a dazed expression, then tossed up his arms, and, with a sudden access of strength, ran away up the path, laughing hysterically.
"Ha! ha! you love my daughter," he cried, shrilly. "Go and tell Laura so! It will make her suffer. After all these years her sin has found her out. Go! go! tell her all! It will fill the measure of my revenge."
He disappeared, still laughing loudly, and Dan could hear the echoes of that cruel mirth dying away in the distance. Astonished as he was at the way in which Merle had received his announcement, he made no attempt to follow; but, without changing his position, reflected on his course of action. His decision was soon made.
"I shall see Jarner," he said, "and then Miss Linisfarne."