“Sir, I sent for you here that I might beg of you to save my brother and poor Bart.”
“Curse your brother and Bart!” said the captain, angrily. “It was not their fault that they did not kill me. They’re better out of our way.”
“Captain Armstrong—James—for our old love’s sake will you save them?”
“No,” he cried, savagely. “Yes,” he added, catching Mary’s wrist; “not for our old love’s sake, but for our new love—the love that is to come. Mary, I love you; I always did love you, and now I find I cannot live without you.”
“Captain Armstrong!”
“James—your lover. Mary, you are everything to me. Don’t struggle. How can you be so foolish? There, yes, I will. I’ll do everything. I’ll refuse to appear against them if you wish me to. I’ll get them set free; but you will not hold me off like this?”
“You will save my brother?”
“Yes.”
“And his friend?”
“Yes.”