“Circumstances beyond my control—but—ah! I wanted to begin life again and not drag her down with me. I felt that I had it in me, sir; I know that I had it in me.”
“You knew that the report of your death was published in the American papers and you knew that it would appear in all the papers here. That was nearly four months ago, and yet you took no steps whatever to have that report contradicted. You wished everyone to believe that you were dead.”
“What better chance could I have of beginning life afresh? It seemed as if the hand of God——”
“Don’t trouble about the hand of God. You didn’t consider that it was due to the girl whom you had linked to your career of crime, to mention in confidence what your scheme was—to begin life again without being handicapped by your previous adventures that had landed you in gaol?”
“I wanted to wait until I had redeemed the bitter past. I wanted to be able to go to her, an honourable man, and say to her, ‘Priscilla, bitter though the past may have been, yet by the mercy of God——‘”
“Quite so. That was quite a laudable aspiration, and it shows that your heart is in the right place.”
“All that I thought about was her happiness, sir. I said, ‘If I have done her an injustice in the past, she shall find out I have atoned——‘”
“You thought of nothing but her happiness? Well, now that you come here and find that she is happy, what more do you want?”
“I want her—my wife.”
“Because you think that she will be happy with you? Why didn’t you go to her and tell her of your plans the very moment you were released from gaol?”