The rest of the words were lost to Tom, but he imagined what they were, and his cheek flushed and the blood seemed to burn his life away.
As Arkwright was placing the hat upon the rearrested convict, Tom turned to Jim:
“I suppose you did not tell your aunt about this affair?”
“Yes, I did, sir, and because I told on you and the girl, I got scot free, sir.”
“Scat,” cried Bridget, “or I’ll pull your scraggy hair out of your little impudent head, you dirty spalpeen.”
“Well,” said Nellie, taking Tom’s hand in hers as he was being taken away, “I wish you all to understand that here stands a girl whom you say is worth a million dollars. There stands a man whom I love. I shall spend every one of those millions of dollars to prove him innocent, and then we can come back here to live with Biddy after he is out of prison and we are married.”
CHAPTER X.
It seemed to take all the life out of poor Tom when he found himself being taken back to prison. While he had perfect faith in Nellie, still he hated the evil influence of her cousin. But he did not yet know the girl who loved him, and did not realize that no influence in the world could make her untrue to him.
He went moodily into the same cell that he was placed in before, this time hoping that his darling would be true to him.
The morning at last arrived when Nellie should leave the boathouse that had sheltered her so long.