“Oh, that I could ever have loved him!” she said in a faint voice. “Here, Elsa, read it to them all!”
From under her cloak she drew a crumpled envelope which she passed to her sister.
With a snarl like that of a wild animal Nat leaped from his chair toward the girl, but Durkee struck him violently and he reeled back into it.
“You swore you burned them all!” muttered Nat. “You swore it! You swore it!”
“Yes, and she did, the innocent child––all but this one that she had mislaid in a book you once sent her,” cried Elsa. “But I found it, Burns. Where do you think I’ve been all this while? At St. John’s, where she lives with my aunt. And do you think there was no reason for that letter being saved? God takes care of things like this, and now you’ve got to pay, Nat Burns! I knew there would come a time. I knew there would!”
She was still standing, and she drew the letter out of the envelope.
“Look, squire, Code, any of you who know. Is this Nat’s writing?”
“Yes,” they all declared as the letter passed from hand to hand.
“Read it,” said the squire, forcing Caroline Fuller to sit down in his chair.