The governor winced.
CHAPTER XXV. THEN WHAT HAPPENED
An hour after Noreen Boyne had been laid in her grave, there was a special issue of the principal paper telling all the true facts of the death of Erris Boyne. Thus the people of Jamaica came to know that Dyck Calhoun was innocent of the crime of killing Erris Boyne, and he was made the object of splashing admiration, and was almost mobbed by admirers in the street. It all vexed Lord Mallow; but he steeled himself to urbanity, and he played his part well. He was clever enough to see it would pay him to be outwardly gracious to Calhoun. So it was he made a speech in the capital on the return of the general commanding and the troops from subduing the Maroons, in which he said: “No one in all the King’s dominions had showed greater patriotism and military skill than their friend Mr. Dyck Calhoun, who had been harshly treated by a mistaken Government.”
A few hours later, in the sweet garden of the house where Sheila and her mother lodged, Calhoun came upon the girl whose gentle dignity and beauty seemed to glow.
At first all she said to him was, “Welcome, old friend,” and at last she said, “Now you can come to the United States, Dyck, and make a new life there.”
Presently he said: “I ought to go where you wish me to go, for you came to me here when I was rejected of men. I owe you whatever I am that’s worth while, if anything I am is worth while. Your faith kept me alive in my darkest days—even when I thought I had wronged you.”
“Then you will come to Virginia with me—as my husband, Dyck?” She blushed and laughed. “You see I have to propose to you, for you’ve never asked me to marry you. I’m throwing myself at your head, sir, you observe!”
He gave an honest smile of adoration. “I came to-day to ask you to be my wife—for that reason only. I could not do it till the governor had declared my innocence. The earth is sweeter to-day than it has been since time began.”
He held out his arms, and an instant later the flowers she carried were crushed to her breast, with her lips given to his.