“Bah! Despairing at your age? Why, man, this life is full of change and surprise. Nothing comes to pass so often as the unexpected.”
Stratton shook his head.
“What! Doubting, in the face of all I have told you just now? Why, man, my news must have come upon you like a miracle. Come, I shall see you and Myra happy yet.”
“Silence!” cried Stratton sternly. “Impossible! All that is past. Brettison, I accept my fate in all thankfulness for what I know. If Myra and I ever meet again, I can take her hand and look her calmly in the eyes. I know my position now; and, thank God, I am once more a man—free from the great horror of my life. Now, tell me. The man recovered from his wound?”
“Yes,” said Brettison, looking at Stratton curiously, “he is quite recovered from that; only much changed.”
“You have seen him lately, then?” cried Stratton eagerly.
“Yes; not many hours since.”
“Brettison!”
“Yes? Why do you start like that?”
“Then you have not handed him over to the authorities?”