"Why will you not explain?" he added, aloud. "It would save both you and me from many a painful occurrence."
"Because I will not be compelled to any act under the sun!" answered the gipsy, who had only taken advantage of the degree of freedom which he now possessed to raise himself upon his arm.
"Then you shall not be compelled!" answered Manners, to whom his answer had given the right key to his obduracy--"then you shall not be compelled! but you shall be persuaded. Stand up, Pharold, and listen to me, as to one who does not feel towards you as you would make yourself believe that all our race do towards yours. You have seen my conduct--you see it now; and you must judge of me better than you lately did."
The gipsy hung his head. "You have kept your word with me," he answered. "You have brought me to a place where no odds could be found against me; and you have vanquished with your own weapons at your own trade. What more?"
"I have spared you when I might have hurt you," replied Manners; "and now I let you go free when I might make you a prisoner--"
"You let me go free!" cried the gipsy, in a tone of astonishment--"you let me go free! and without conditions, too?"
"Without any conditions," answered Manners, "but such as your own heart shall lay upon you, when you have heard all that I have to say to you."
"Then you, too, are one of the few noble hearts," answered the gipsy, rising; "and I have done you injustice."
"There are more noble hearts in the world," Manners rejoined, "than you know of, my friend. But listen to me, and let me see if yours be a noble heart too. Edward de Vaux is, or was, my friend and my companion in arms. We have stood by each other in battle; we have attended each other in sickness; we have delivered each other in danger; and, had he been my brother, I could not have loved him better. I find that, the night before last, he left his home when all the family were at rest; that he went to visit one with whom he had no known acquaintance or business; and that he never returned to those he most loved. Was it not natural for me to search for him with all the rapidity in my power?"
"It was! it was!" answered the gipsy; "and I have judged you harshly."